AREDS2 Without the 80 mg of Zinc

Aug 3, 20265 min readMedically reviewed

Reviewed August 2026

Older man standing at a sunlit kitchen counter holding a glass of water

"The dose is the number people compare. The form is the part that decides whether they keep taking it." - Dr. Elena Markovic

1. Why 80 mg, and Why It Causes Trouble

If you have stopped taking your eye vitamin because it upsets your stomach, you are not unusual and you are not doing it wrong.

The 80 mg zinc dose comes from the original Age-Related Eye Disease Study, which began in the 1990s. It has been carried forward into AREDS2 and into most products on the shelf since.

For context, the Daily Value for zinc is 11 mg. The AREDS dose is more than seven times that.

At that level, three things come up:

Stomach upset and nausea. The most common complaint, and the most common reason people quietly stop.

Urinary problems. A 2007 analysis of the original AREDS data found hospital admissions for genitourinary causes in 11.1% of participants taking zinc against 7.6% of those who were not, with men at the greatest risk.

Copper. High zinc intake interferes with copper absorption, which is why every AREDS formula includes 2 mg of copper alongside it.

None of that makes zinc bad. It is a real part of why the AREDS formula worked. It means the dose is high enough to have consequences, and those consequences are why a lot of bottles end up at the back of a cupboard.

2. What the Research Says About a Lower Dose

AREDS2 did test this. Alongside the main comparison, it ran a secondary randomisation of 80 mg against 25 mg of zinc.

"The investigators did not find a difference in the effects of 80 mg vs. 25 mg zinc. Because AREDS2 did not include a placebo control, results from AREDS, placebo-controlled trial, are still considered the gold standard." - National Eye Institute

Read that carefully in both directions.

The lower dose did not perform worse in the one trial that examined it - that is genuinely useful. And the NEI is declining to downgrade 80 mg on that evidence, because the comparison lacked a placebo arm.

Both halves are true, and anyone quoting only one of them is selling you something.

What has changed since is commercial rather than scientific: in May 2026, Bausch + Lomb launched PreserVision AREDS3 with the AREDS2 nutrients at 25 mg of zinc, explicitly citing tolerability. The full side-by-side is in our AREDS2 versus AREDS3 comparison.

3. The Part Almost Nobody Mentions: The Form

Dose is only half the story.

Most AREDS products use zinc oxide. Zinc oxide is poorly absorbed and more likely to cause stomach upset than zinc citrate. Same mineral, different compound, noticeably different experience for some people. We cover the wider tolerability picture in our guide to PreserVision side effects.

So there are two dials, not one. You can lower the dose, and you can change the form.

A product at 25 mg of zinc citrate is a different proposition from one at 80 mg of zinc oxide, and the label will tell you which you are holding - it is written in brackets after the word Zinc.

Klaris uses 25 mg of zinc as zinc citrate, with 2 mg of copper as copper citrate alongside it.

To be clear about what Klaris is and is not: it is not an AREDS2 formula. It carries 250 mg of vitamin C against the AREDS 500 mg, and 134 mg of vitamin E against 180 mg.

It is built around the three macular carotenoids - lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin - plus astaxanthin, for people who have not been diagnosed with macular degeneration. If that is your situation, our guide to AREDS2 alternatives walks through the options.

4. Before You Change Anything

If an eye doctor put you on AREDS2 for intermediate or late macular degeneration, take this to them rather than acting on it.

The sentence that usually opens the useful conversation is: "this makes me feel sick and I have been skipping it."

That is information your doctor wants, and it changes the options they will offer you.

5. Frequently Asked Questions

The most likely reason is the zinc. AREDS2 formulas including PreserVision contain 80 mg of zinc, more than seven times the Daily Value of 11 mg, and stomach upset and nausea are the most commonly reported problems at that dose. The form matters as well as the amount: most AREDS products use zinc oxide, which is poorly absorbed and more likely to cause stomach upset than zinc citrate. Taking it with a full meal rather than on an empty stomach often helps. If it does not, tell your eye doctor that you have been skipping doses - there are lower-zinc options, and a supplement you stop taking protects nothing.

Yes. PreserVision AREDS3, launched in May 2026, contains the same AREDS2 nutrients with 25 mg of zinc instead of 80 mg, and Bausch + Lomb cites tolerability as the reason. Several smaller brands have offered lower-zinc versions for longer. The evidence base is that AREDS2 compared 80 mg against 25 mg and, in the National Eye Institute's words, "did not find a difference in the effects of 80 mg vs. 25 mg zinc" - though that comparison had no placebo group, which is why the NEI still lists 80 mg as the AREDS2 formula. If your eye doctor prescribed AREDS2, ask them before switching.

For absorption and for stomach comfort, generally yes. Zinc oxide is poorly absorbed and more likely to cause stomach upset than zinc citrate, which is why the form is worth checking on the label - it appears in brackets after the word Zinc in the Supplement Facts panel. Most AREDS-style eye vitamins use zinc oxide. The distinction matters most at high doses, where poor absorption means more of the mineral sitting in the digestive tract. If you have had trouble with an eye vitamin, checking whether you were taking oxide or citrate is a quick thing to rule in or out before you give up on the category.

Still have questions? Contact us.

6. References

National Eye Institute. AREDS/AREDS2 Frequently Asked Questions.
Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 Research Group. JAMA. 2013;309(19):2005-2015.
Bausch + Lomb launches PreserVision AREDS3 eye vitamins in US. Optometry Times. May 2026.
Johnson AR, Munoz A, Gottlieb JL, Jarrard DF. High dose zinc increases hospital admissions due to genitourinary complications. J Urol. 2007;177(2):639-643.

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About the author

Dr. Elena Markovic, MD

Neuro-ophthalmology, 20+ years in clinical practice

Dr. Markovic reviews every Klaris article for medical accuracy. Her clinical focus is age-related vision change, macular pigment and the nutrition behind both. Read Dr. Markovic’s full profile.