Conducting a study entirely over the Internet and through e-mail, a Johns Hopkins researcher has found that the vitamin lutein significantly improved vision in volunteers with retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

A progressive eye disease with no known cure, RP affects about one out of 3,000 people. It destroys the rods of the eye, at first causing a loss of peripheral vision, and in most cases slowly leading to total blindness.

An RP patient and homemaker from Ontario named Ingrid Zorge initiated the study. Zorge belonged to an Internet mailing list for RP patients, their families, and clinicians, and had heard through that electronic grapevine that several list members had improved their vision by taking lutein supplements. Found naturally in the retina, lutein protects the rods and cones against the damaging effects of short wavelength light and free radicals. Zorge then contacted another member of the RP list, Hopkins assistant professor of ophthalmology Gislin Dagnelie, and asked if he would design a study on the effects of lutein supplementation in RP. Dagnelie agreed, and Zorge sought and coordinated volunteers from the retinitis pigmentosa mailing list for the ensuing study.

Participants, who came from nations spanning the globe including New Zealand, Turkey, and Singapore, took 40 milligrams of lutein daily for nine weeks, followed by 20 milligrams a day for 17 weeks. Every week, they tested themselves for visual acuity, using standard letter charts that Dagnelie had e-mailed to them. Following the researchers' instructions, the volunteers also made special wall charts, which they used to test their central vision. Volunteers e-mailed test results to the researchers.

Twelve of the 16 volunteers had significant improvements in their vision. On average, their visual acuity improved 21 percent and central vision improved 8 percent. But some participants achieved as much as 80 percent improvement in visual acuity and 21 percent in central vision. Blue-eyed volunteers experienced the greatest improvements.

"This study would never have been done without the Internet," says Dagnelie, who is now planning a more extensive placebo-controlled study similar to the one just conducted. One question he plans to investigate is whether the apparent benefits of lutein are lasting. He and Zorge reported their findings in the March Optometry: Journal of the American Optometric Association.

Lutein is found in green leafy vegetables, yellow and red fruits, and egg yolks. A good serving of vegetables like spinach, kale, broccoli, or collards probably has about 10 milligrams, according to Dagnelie. He advises patients to tell their doctors if they decide to take lutein supplements. -Melissa Hendricks

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