It has been observed that there is an inverse relationship between dietary or serum lutein levels and risk for age-related macular degeneration and cataracts. There are also amounting evidences suggesting that dietary antioxidant vitamins are positively associated with lung function. In the study published in March 2002 [H.J. Schunemann, et al. March 1, 2002. Lung function in relation to intake of carotenoids and other antioxidant vitamins in a population-based study. Am. J. Epidemiol. 155(5):463-71.], the impact of taking dietary carotenoids other than beta-carotene on pulmonary function has been investigated.

Over the period of 1995-1998, the authors studied the assocaition of forced expiratory volume in 1 second and forced vital capacity as the percentage of the predicted value (FEV(1)% and FVC%, respectively) after adjustment for height, age, gender, and race with the intakes of several carotenoids (alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein/zeaxanthin, and lycopene) in a random sample of 1,616 men and women who were residents of western New York States, aged 35-79 years, and free from respiratory diseases. They observed significant associations of lutein/zeaxanthin and vitamin C and E with FEV(1)% and FVC% using multiple linear regression after the adjustment for total energy intake, smoking, and other covariates. When they analyzed all of these antioxidant vitamins simultaneously, they observed the strongest association of vitamin E with FEV(1% and of lutein/zeaxanthin with FVC%. The differences in forced expiration volume in 1 second and forced vital capacity associated with a decrease of 1 standard deviation of dietary vitamin E or lutein/zeaxanthin were equivalent to the influence of approximately 1-2 years of aging. Their finding support the hypothesis that carotenoids, vitamin C, and vitamin E may play a role in respiratory health and that carotenoids other than beta-carotene, such as lutein, may be involved.