Zeaxanthin

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The short answer

Zeaxanthin accompanies lutein in AREDS2 for selected macular-degeneration patients.

Evidence and scope: Supported for specific outcomes
This status does not grade the ingredient for every goal, outcome, or person.
Important limitation: Evidence supports a specific outcome, not a general wellness or longevity effect.
Before deciding: Key concern: Use only for the appropriate eye indication and as part of the full formula.

01 / PRACTICAL GUIDE

Dose, absorption, and combinations

These are indication-specific reference or studied ranges—not a personalized prescription. Start with the objective, then check the form, label, medicines, and health conditions.

Reference range by objective

Eye-health indication2 mg/day within the AREDS2 formula

Reference or studied range—not a personalized prescription. The product label or a clinician may specify a different dose.

Dose source ↗

More is not automatically better. A clinician or product label may specify a different amount.

Absorption / solubilityFat-soluble / lipid-based

Fat-soluble or lipid-based. Absorption generally improves with a meal containing fat.

How it is commonly taken

Take with a fat-containing meal.

Do not combine casually

Use only for the appropriate eye indication and as part of the full formula.

Dose and use source ↗

Dose and use links lead to primary or official source material. Search links are discovery tools, not proof that every returned paper applies.

02 / EVIDENCE

What the research says

We keep supportive, mixed, negative, safety, and contextual findings together. The headline never replaces the underlying papers.

1research papers in this ledger

0unique primary studies represented

—unique participants represented

These are audited counts for this JIVANA collection, not search-result totals. Participants are counted once when multiple papers use the same cohort; review papers are not added again to participant totals.

Open the research timelineResearch timeline

Entries are ordered by publication year. A study period appears only when the source reports it.

2013

Does not support the tested claimPMID 23644932 · NCT00345176

Lutein plus zeaxanthin in the AREDS2 trial

Adding lutein plus zeaxanthin did not significantly reduce progression in the prespecified primary analysis (HR 0.90, 98.7% CI 0.76–1.07). Because zeaxanthin was always paired with lutein and layered onto an AREDS formulation, this trial cannot isolate zeaxanthin's independent effect.

Published: 2013Duration: Median 5 years

Study design and methods

Design: Multicenter, randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled 2×2 factorial phase 3 trial
Population: 4,203 adults aged 50–85 years at high risk of progression to advanced age-related macular degeneration
Intervention: Zeaxanthin 2 mg plus lutein 10 mg daily, with or without DHA/EPA, added to an AREDS formulation
Outcome: Progression to advanced age-related macular degeneration

Open research record ↗

Unscreened discovery appendix—not evidence93 candidate publicationsSearch run: Aug 21, 2026

Complete for the displayed PubMed query at the search timestamp—not for all databases or every possible synonym. Candidates can be irrelevant, duplicate the same study, or report negative findings. They are never summed as evidence or participants until screened.

03 / SOURCES

Start with the source material

Official evidence overviewPubMed bounded human-evidence search Live PubMed discovery searchNational Library of Medicine

The live search is for discovery only. Search-result counts change and are not included in the audited totals above.

Recent PubMed discovery recordsDirect links to the first 12 records returned by the reproducible search. These are discovery candidates—not reviewed summaries or a count of supportive findings.

04 / EXPERT CONTEXT

Expert context—not evidence

Expert positions are dated context—not scientific evidence. They never raise the evidence status or become consensus by repetition.

No direct, source-verified endorsement is currently recorded. Research authorship or discussion alone is not treated as endorsement.