Label audit · updated October 2026
Seven eye supplements, one by one, straight off the label
Every claim below comes from a Supplement Facts panel, not a sales page. We read the panel, took the per-day column, and compared it to the six nutrients the AREDS2 trial actually tested.
The finding, in one line
Of the seven products, one matches all six AREDS2 nutrients at the trial dose. Two more match four of six. The rest are not AREDS2 formulas at all — which is fine, as long as nobody sells them as one.
The table
Daily doses, not per-capsule. Vitamin E is shown with its form, because IU and mg do not convert the same way for synthetic and natural tocopherols.
| Product | Vit C | Vit E | Zinc | Copper | Lutein | Zeax. | AREDS2 doses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PreserVision AREDS 2 2 soft gels per day | 500 mg | 180 mg dl-α (400 IU) | 80 mg | 2 mg | 10 mg | 2 mg | Yes — 6 of 6 |
| VisiFlora 1 capsule per day proprietary blend | 90 mg | 15 mg dl-α (33 IU) | 11 mg | 0.9 mg | in blend | in blend | No — different formula |
| iGenics 2 capsules per day | 500 mg | 0.268 mg (label) | 20 mg | 2 mg | 20 mg | 10 mg | Partly — 3 of 6 |
| EyePromise Macular Shield Plus 4 capsules per day | 500 mg | 268 mg d-α (400 IU) | 25 mg | 1 mg | 10 mg | 2 mg | Partly — 4 of 6 |
| MacuHealth Plus+ 4 soft gels per day | 500 mg | 268 mg d-α (400 IU) | 25 mg | 1.2 mg | 10 mg | 2 mg + 10 mg meso | Partly — 4 of 6 |
| Nutricost Zeaxanthin + Lutein 1 soft gel per day | — | — | — | — | 20 mg | 4 mg | No — lutein only |
| NOW Foods Lutein & Zeaxanthin 1 soft gel per day | — | — | — | — | 25 mg | 5 mg | No — lutein only |
AREDS2 targets: vitamin C 500 mg · vitamin E 400 IU · zinc 80 mg · copper 2 mg · lutein 10 mg · zeaxanthin 2 mg.
We also read seven more panels, one page each
Every ingredient and every dose, transcribed from the label and scored the same way:
Start with what you are actually trying to do
“Best eye supplement” has no answer until you pick a job. There are three, and the labels sort themselves once you name them.
1. You have diagnosed intermediate AMD
This is the only group with trial evidence behind a supplement. PreserVision AREDS 2 is the one product here that hits all six doses, and it is the one your ophthalmologist is likely to name. We earn nothing from telling you that, which is partly why we are telling you.
Nothing else on this page is a substitute for it, including the two formulas below. The full AREDS2 breakdown is here.
2. Your eyes are healthy and you want broad coverage
This is a different job, and it is where the formulas built around more than six nutrients make sense. Two of them are worth your time, and they are not interchangeable.
Broadest formula
VisiFlora — 21 ingredients, built around the gut barrier
VisiFlora is the only product in this audit that treats the gut as part of the eye problem. Its Gut Armor Trio — quercetin, rutin and grape seed extract — has no equivalent in any pharmacy brand here, and it carries a wider botanical set than anything else in the table: astaxanthin, saffron, bilberry, taurine, alpha-lipoic acid, lycopene, coleus forskohlii and ginkgo, alongside the six AREDS2 micronutrients.
- · 21 ingredients — the widest coverage in this audit
- · The only formula addressing gut-barrier integrity, the pathway LPS uses to reach the retina
- · One capsule a day, 90-day money-back guarantee
And the honest part: it is not an AREDS2 replacement. Its vitamin C, E and zinc sit far below the trial doses, and its carotenoids are inside a 351 mg proprietary blend, so the individual amounts are not published. It is a daily broad-spectrum formula — judge it as one.
Highest carotenoid doses
iGenics — 2× and 5× the AREDS2 carotenoids, plus botanicals
If your concern is macular pigment specifically, iGenics is the strongest carotenoid delivery in this table: lutein 20 mg and zeaxanthin 10 mg — double and five times the AREDS2 levels — with bilberry at 480 mg, saffron at the 20 mg used in trials, turmeric 350 mg with BioPerine, ginkgo 80 mg, and minerals in chelated form rather than oxides.
- · Lutein 20 mg / zeaxanthin 10 mg — the highest in this audit
- · Vitamin C 500 mg and copper 2 mg, both at AREDS2 level
- · Chelated zinc and copper (TRAACS) — a better-absorbed form
- · Vitamin A as retinyl palmitate, not beta-carotene — the form AREDS2 kept for smokers
- · 180-day money-back guarantee, the longest here
And the honest part: zinc is 20 mg against AREDS2's 80 mg, and the label prints vitamin E at 0.268 mg rather than 268 mg — a figure we would ask the manufacturer to clarify. If vitamin E at trial dose matters to you, PreserVision is the safer choice.
3. You only want lutein and zeaxanthin
Then buy two ingredients and stop paying for the rest. NOW Foods delivers 25 mg lutein and 5 mg zeaxanthin per soft gel; Nutricost delivers 20 mg and 4 mg. Both are free-form marigold extract at a fraction of the price, and both beat every AREDS2 formula on carotenoid dose alone. We have no commercial relationship with either — that is the whole pitch.
What the other seven formulas leave out
AREDS2 is six nutrients. Everything else on a label is either filler or a different idea about how eyes age. We read all seven panels for ingredients that appear in one product and nowhere else — and checked what the research behind each one actually is, not what the sales page says.
| Ingredient | What the research shows | Strength of evidence | Found in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grape seed extract (OPCs) | A randomized trial of 124 people with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy: 150 mg/day for 12 months improved hard exudate severity versus placebo, and macular volume fell from baseline at 9 months. | Human RCT | VisiFlora (in blend) · EyePromise 10 mg |
| Quercetin | Preserves the tight-junction proteins ZO-1, occludin and claudin-1 and lowers epithelial permeability in cell and animal models. No human trial of gut permeability has been run. | Preclinical | VisiFlora only |
| Rutin | Raises transepithelial resistance and restores ZO-2, occludin and claudin-3 under irradiation stress in intestinal cell monolayers. | Preclinical | VisiFlora only |
| Taurine | The most abundant free amino acid in the retina. Depletion causes photoreceptor and ganglion-cell degeneration; low plasma taurine is linked to retinal degeneration in humans. | Mechanistic + human deficiency data | VisiFlora only |
| Coleus forskohlii (forskolin) | Lowers intraocular pressure by reducing aqueous inflow — about 34% in a small human study. An oral combination product improved IOP and PERG amplitude in a 22-patient glaucoma pilot. | Small human trials | VisiFlora only |
| Alpha-lipoic acid | Regenerates vitamins C and E after they are oxidised. Strongest human data is in diabetic neuropathy rather than in the eye. | Human, other indication | VisiFlora only |
| Lycopene | Observational associations with lens and macular health. No trial evidence for progression. | Observational only | VisiFlora only |
| Eyebright | Traditional use for eye complaints. No controlled trials. | Traditional only | VisiFlora only |
Seven of these eight ingredients appear in only one of the seven products. Grape seed extract is the exception — EyePromise includes 10 mg, and its panel is the only other one that lists it.
That is the honest case for a 21-ingredient formula: not that it beats AREDS2 at AREDS2's own job, but that it is the only product here working on the barrier and microcirculation side at all. Whether that matters for you depends on which job you picked above.
How to read a label in thirty seconds
- Find the daily serving, not one capsule. PreserVision prints 250 mg of vitamin C per soft gel and 500 mg per day. Compare the wrong column and everything looks half strength.
- Convert vitamin E before comparing. dl-alpha-tocopheryl acetate: 1 IU = 0.45 mg, so 400 IU = 180 mg. Natural d-alpha-tocopherol: 1 IU = 0.67 mg, so 400 IU = 268 mg. 180 mg and 268 mg can both be a full 400 IU.
- Look for a blend. A single weight for many ingredients means the individual doses are unverifiable — including the ones you came for.
- Check for beta-carotene if you smoke. AREDS2 dropped it after it was linked to higher lung cancer risk in smokers. PreserVision prints “beta-carotene free” on the carton.
Sources
Every row above was read from the panel, at full resolution, on the date shown. If a manufacturer changes a formula, the panel is the authority — not this page.
One product is missing on purpose. Ocuvite Adult 50+ is not in this table: Bausch + Lomb does not publish its Supplement Facts panel on the product page, and we do not print a dose we could not read ourselves. It goes in when a panel is available.
| Product | Panel source |
|---|---|
| PreserVision AREDS 2 | shop.preservision.com — product images, left and right carton faces |
| VisiFlora | Supplement Facts panel photographed from the bottle |
| iGenics | sciencegenics.com — right carton face image |
| EyePromise Macular Shield Plus | eyepromise.com — DA_SFPs Macular Shield label image |
| MacuHealth Plus+ | macuhealth.com — MacuHealth_SupplementFacts label image |
| Nutricost | nutricost.com — SFP product image |
| NOW Foods | nowfoods.com — 3064 right-face product image |
Questions we get about this table
Which eye supplement matches the AREDS2 doses?
Only PreserVision AREDS 2 matches all six nutrients at the trial dose: vitamin C 500 mg, vitamin E 400 IU, zinc 80 mg, copper 2 mg, lutein 10 mg, zeaxanthin 2 mg. EyePromise and MacuHealth match four of six — they keep C, E and the carotenoids but cut zinc to 25 mg and copper to 1–1.2 mg.
Do more ingredients mean a better supplement?
No. AREDS2 is a finding about doses of six nutrients, not about ingredient count. A 21-ingredient formula and a 2-ingredient formula can both be well made and neither is closer to the trial by virtue of the count.
Why do labels mix mg and IU for vitamin E?
Because the conversion depends on the form. dl-alpha-tocopheryl acetate: 1 IU = 0.45 mg, so 400 IU is 180 mg. Natural d-alpha-tocopherol: 1 IU = 0.67 mg, so 400 IU is 268 mg. Applying the wrong constant misstates the dose by roughly half.
Is a proprietary blend a red flag?
It is a limit on what you can verify. When several ingredients share one total weight, no one outside the manufacturer can confirm whether lutein or zeaxanthin is present at a studied dose. That does not make the product bad — it makes it unevaluable on those ingredients.
Does VisiFlora match AREDS2?
No, and it does not claim to. Vitamin C 90 mg, vitamin E 15 mg, zinc 11 mg and copper 0.9 mg per day, with carotenoids inside a 351 mg proprietary blend. It is a broad daily formula built around gut-barrier support — a different job.
Does iGenics match AREDS2?
Partly. Vitamin C 500 mg and copper 2 mg match, lutein 20 mg and zeaxanthin 10 mg exceed the trial, but zinc is 20 mg against 80 mg. The label also prints vitamin E at 0.268 mg, which we would ask the manufacturer to clarify.
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