Vitamin supplements limit glaucoma progression

Supplements containing B6, B9 and B12 and choline helped to slow down optic nerve damage in mice

2 min read

Vitamins spill out of a white plastic container

Pixabay/Steve Buissinne

10 June 2025

Researchers have highlighted the potential of vitamin supplements in limiting glaucoma progression.

Writing in Cell Reports Medicine, scientists from Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet described an experiment where mice with glaucoma were given supplements of B6, B9 and B12 and choline.

They found that glaucoma progression halted in mice with a less aggressive form of the eye disease, while glaucoma progression slowed down in those with more severe glaucoma.

The researchers explored the relationship between elevated levels of homocysteine in glaucoma and disease progression. They determined that the substance does not act as a catalyst for the disease – rather, it is a product of glaucoma.

Co-lead author and assistant professor at the Karolinska Institutet’s department of clinical neuroscience, James Tribble, highlighted that altered homocysteine levels may indicate that the retina has lost the ability to use certain vitamins that are necessary to maintain a healthy metabolism.

“That’s why we wanted to investigate whether supplements of these vitamins could protect the retina,” he said.

The researchers are now planning a trial involving human patients with primary open-angle glaucoma and pseudoexfoliation glaucoma.

“The results are so promising that we have started a clinical trial, with patients already being recruited at St Erik Eye Hospital in Stockholm,” Tribble said.