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Association between dietary magnesium intake and risk of cataract surgery: data from NHANES 2003–2008

Eye volume 39, pages 2700–2707 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Background

In vitro and in vivo studies suggested that magnesium might have preventive effects on cataracts; however, the epidemiological evidence is limited. The objective of this study was to examine the association between magnesium intake and the odds of experiencing cataract surgery.

Methods

A total of 8185 individuals aged ≥30 years were extracted from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys (NHANES) in the cycles from 2003 to 2008. Magnesium intake was assessed using the 24-hour dietary recall method. The questionnaire determined whether participants had cataract surgery or not. Multivariable logistic regressions were performed to explore the associations between magnesium intake and the risk of cataract surgery.

Results

The overall prevalence of cataracts was 13.4% (1094/8185). After controlling for potential confounders, we observed a significant inverse association between magnesium intake and cataracts, both as a continuous variable [odds ratio (OR): 0.78, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.65-0.96, p = 0.013] and quartiles with the highest quartile compared to the lowest (OR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.61-0.98, p trend = 0.027).

Conclusions

These results suggest that higher magnesium intake appears to be helpful for cataract prevention; however, additional prospective studies are required to ascertain whether magnesium intake can lead to a decrease in cataracts.

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Fig. 1: Flow chart of population selection.
Fig. 2: Restricted cubic spline of the association between magnesium intake and risk of cataract surgery.

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Data availability

Data are available in a public, open access repository. Open access data are available on the NHANES website (www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/).

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the staff at USDA and the National Center for Health Statistics at the CDC, who design, collect, administer the NHANES data and release the data available for public use.

Funding

The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not- for- profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510120, China

    Shumei Sun, Zhilan Tong, Zhagen Yuan, Hanli Chen, Xiaoying Zhu, Xiaoyan Hong, Gengxin Yao & Min Zhong

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  1. Shumei Sun
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Contributions

ZM designed the research. SS conducted statistical analysis and wrote the manuscripts. TZ, YZ, CH, ZX, HX, and YG directed the study and revised the manuscripts. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version. ZM is responsible for the overall content as the guarantor.

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Correspondence to Min Zhong.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval

NHANES was approved by the National Center for Health Statistics Institutional Review Board, and participants provided written informed consent.

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Sun, S., Tong, Z., Yuan, Z. et al. Association between dietary magnesium intake and risk of cataract surgery: data from NHANES 2003–2008. Eye 39, 2700–2707 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-025-03930-y

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