August 8, 2019
Keio University School of Medicine
A joint research group from the Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine (Professor Kazuo Tsubota, Project Associate Professor Toshihide Kurihara, Assistant Professor Hidenori Torii, and Assistant Professor Kiwako Mori), the Department of Ophthalmology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine (Professor Kohji Nishida, Endowed Chair Associate Professor Jinghua Gao, and Satoko Fujimoto, a fourth-year student in the Doctoral Programs), and Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., conducted a randomized controlled trial administering crocetin, a pigment component derived from gardenia fruit, to 69 elementary school children. The study confirmed that crocetin significantly suppresses axial elongation and myopic shift in refractive error in children.
Following a previous study that showed the myopia-suppressing effect of crocetin in mice, these findings represent a new discovery, demonstrating that crocetin also suppresses the progression of myopia in humans. As this study has now confirmed its effectiveness during childhood, a period when axial length elongates, the administration of crocetin is considered to be of great social significance as a new method to prevent the future development of high myopia by suppressing its progression in childhood.
The results of this research were published in the online edition of the interdisciplinary general journal "Journal of Clinical Medicine" on August 7.
Please see below for the full press release.