Vitamin B3 and Glaucoma in West Africa 

Glaucoma in West Africa is an aggressive and blinding disease. Current treatments lower intraocular pressure to protect from optic nerve damage.

Recent studies in high-income countries have shown that low levels of metabolites of vitamin B3 (niacin) are associated with reduced mitochondrial function (which leads to poor outcomes) in patients with glaucoma-related optic nerve damage in high-income countries.

Adding vitamin B3 to the diet of people with glaucoma may help protect the optic nerve from intraocular pressure (IOP) related damage and visual field loss in patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG).

Our study will measure levels of two of these metabolites, (nicotinamide in serum (NAM) and nicotinamide adenine diphosphate (NAD), in the serum and white blood cells of patients with glaucoma vs. a control group of people without the disease in two areas in Nigeria. We will also measure their dietary intake of vitamin B3 via a questionnaire.

The primary aim is to estimate the association between dietary Vitamin B3, serum NAM, cellular NAD and glaucoma in people with and without the condition. This will help to provide evidence for future research on whether dietary supplementation of vitamin B3 can prevent or reduce the progression of visual loss from glaucoma, which would be hugely impactful for this blinding disease in Africa.

This is the first time that research into vitamin B3 metabolites and glaucoma will be conducted in West Africa or any other low- or middle-income population.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Velux Stiftung for funding this project and their continued support.