| Sumario: | Lutein and zeaxanthin (L/Z) were related to macular health. With respect to increasing life expectancy, age-related macular disease (AMD) has become a concern on public health. The objective was to investigate dietary L/Z intake and its related food preference in populations living in different areas. A three-day dietary record and a supplement survey were designed to obtain data. A non-randomized, biased sampling of 240 college students were recruited in this study, 137 of them enrolled in California State University, Los Angeles (LA) and the other 93 were in China Medical University in Taichung, Taiwan (TW). LA consisted of 101 females and 36 males and TW consisted of 71 females and 22 males. LA and TW consumed average 4149.4±467.5 and 4994.2±533.4 mcg of L/Z, respectively. The outcome revealed that there was neither significant difference on dietary L/Z intake nor on the use of L/Z supplement between these two populations. It is noteworthy that although the food preferences related to L/Z intake were quite distinct between groups, yet the total intakes of L/Z were found to be lower than the recommended intake (L/Z) of 6000 mcg/day. The result indicated that more nutritional education regarding these two eye-health nutrients should be provided to the general public to prevent AMD.
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