Vitamin companies are peddling “ludicrous” claims about products that protect children’s eyes from the blue light emitted by digital devices, according to doctors.
Key points:
- Eye doctors say there is no scientific evidence that blue light is damaging to the eye
- Blue light refers to a range of the visible light spectrum, and can come from sources such as computers, torches and lasers
- Scientists say the blue light emitted by phones and tablets is “low intensity”
Ads for the dietary supplements suggest they can “guard” or “shield” children’s eyes from “high energy” blue light.
However the organisation that represents eye doctors, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists, said there was no scientific evidence that blue light was damaging to the eye or caused disease.
“The idea that a vitamin might stop blue light absorption to me is ludicrous,” the college’s Dr Shanel Sharma said.
Marketing expert Debra Grace, from Griffith University in Queensland, said the ads were aimed at the biggest and most captive market.
“These ads are perfect examples of marketers targeting parents, based on their guilt feelings,” Professor Grace said.
“There may be a bit of guilt thereabouts at their children spending too much time on their iPad or the iPhone.”
Do you know more about this story? Email investigations@abc.net.auWhat is blue light?
Blue light refers to a specific range of the visible light spectrum. It can come from artificial sources such as computers, torches and lasers, but Dr Sharma said most of it came from sunlight.
One of the vitamin products advertised recently is sold by Caruso’s Natural Health. The company’s website said the product “may support cells within the eye by absorbing high energy blue light”.
In a statement, Caruso’s Natural Health technical and regulatory manager Gulhan Demirci said blue light’s “cumulative effect is known to cause damage to the retina”.
Scientist Dino Pisaniello, from the University of Adelaide’s School of Public Health, said damage was caused only by high-intensity exposure, such as from a solar eclipse, a welding torch or a laser.
“The emissions from mobile phones and tablets screens have been measured and they are very low-intensity sources,” he said.
However, Professor Pisaniello noted that there hadn’t been any population studies looking into whether the light from screens caused damage.
“What it is doing in terms of affecting the eye is very minor and it’s compensated to a large extent by the existing body defences,” he said.
“It’s not like there isn’t some process for dealing with that kind of exposure anyway, that’s normal vision and it’s normal … body defence.
“The question is whether or not we need to supplement that body defence. I would say no.”
Can vitamins protect the eye?
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists said the only evidence of vitamins helping eye health applied to the aging-related condition macular degeneration.
Dr Sharma said a very specific combination of vitamins, known as the AREDS formulation, slowed the rate of macular degeneration in one out of four aged people whose disease was in an advanced stage.
“But in patients who have macular degeneration in a milder form, there is no evidence that even if they took the full vitamin complement for five years that there is any reduction in the rate of development of macular degeneration. So I would not prescribe it for children,” she said.
The Caruso product contains two elements from the AREDS formulation, substances called lutein and zeaxanthin. Caruso said they helped “to absorb and filter out blue light”.
TV ads for similar tablets by Bioglan also said they contained lutein, “which may help shield the retina from blue light and support growing eyes”.
Professor Pisaniello said there was scientific evidence that lutein did absorb blue light, but children could get enough lutein from a healthy diet.
“If they had a normal diet with the sort of green vegetables and so on, they wouldn’t have to worry about supplementation,” he said.
Another element of the Caruso product is fish oil, which Dr Sharma said may help soothe dry eyes caused by looking at screens — but she added that dryness did not damage children’s eyes.
The Bioglan product also contains vitamin E, which is part of the AREDS formulation, and betacarotene.
Dr Sharma said there was scientific evidence linking betacarotene to an increased incidence of lung cancer in smokers.
“I would be concerned about children being given this, particularly those exposed to second-hand smoke,” she said.
Can devices harm children’s eyes?
Dr Sharma said there was some evidence that children may become short-sighted if they hold screens at distances less than 30 centimetre for sustained periods of time, but she said vitamins would not protect against that.
She said parents should worry more about UV sunlight than blue light. UV light can damage the eye and most of that harm occurs before a person turns 18.
“So if parents are worried about protecting their children’s eyesight they should be putting properly protective sunglasses on them,” Dr Sharma said.
‘The parental market is huge for manufacturers’
Professor Grace from Griffith University said parents often bought products for their children that they wouldn’t use themselves.
“The parental market is huge for any manufacturer,” she said.
“This is what you see quite often with a lot of pharmacy lines they actually have a line that may be very, very similar to something they already selling but they put the words ‘children’ or ‘kids’ on it, and they have a captive market.
“Modern parents worry about everything and so if there’s even a suggestion that something may be harmful to their children, they’re right onto it.”
Company says evidence supports their product
Ms Demirci from Caruso’s Natural Health said the company was not targeting parents’ feelings of guilt.
She said the company was very careful not to incite fear or distress, or to imply harm will result by not taking Caruso’s products.
“The science and evidence supporting the product is more than adequate,” she said.
“The product was developed and designed to help support children’s diets and help ensure they are getting the correct nutrients they need to help support and protect their eyes in an environment which is increasing their exposure and risk of blue light.”
Ms Demirci said Caruso encouraged parents to limit their children’s time on devices, encourage them to go outside, and to provide a diet with lots of fruit and vegetables.
Bioglan has been contacted for comment.
Vitamin companies are peddling ludicrous claims about products that protect children’s eyes from the blue light emitted by digital devices, according to doctors.
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