ABSTRACT

Background:
To study the association of habitual coffee and tea consumption with the risk of cataract.

Methods:
This prospective cohort study enrolled UK Biobank participants between 2006 and 2010, and prospectively followed them up for cataract diagnosis. We examined the associations of self-reported intake of tea and coffee and the calculated combined caffeine intake, with the risk of incident cataract. Cox proportional hazards models were analyzed after adjusting for age, sex, race, diabetes, Townsend Index, income, education, smoking and alcohol status.

Results:
A total of 444,787 UK Biobank participants aged from 37 to 73 years old who had no cataract at baseline were included. Coffee intake of 2 - 3 cups/day (HR 0.973, 95% CI 0.949–0.998) or tea intake of 4 - 6 cups/day (HR 0.962, 95% CI 0.934–0.990) or combination caffeine intake of 160.0 - 235.0 mg/day (HR 0.950, 95% CI 0.925–0.976) were linked with the lowest risk of incident cataract. Cox models with restricted cubic splines showed J-shaped associations of coffee, tea, and combined caffeine intake with the risk of cataract (all p for nonlinear <0.001).

Conclusions:
Moderate habitual consumption of coffee and tea is associated with a lower risk of cataract. To maximize the protective effect against cataract, it is advisable to control total caffeine intake from coffee and tea within a range of 160.0 - 235.0 mg/day.

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