PreserVision AREDS 2 Side Effects, and What to Do About Them

Aug 3, 20265 min readMedically reviewed

Reviewed August 2026

Breakfast of porridge, toast and a glass of water on a wooden table

"Most of what people report traces back to one ingredient at one dose. Knowing which turns 'I had to stop' into a five-minute conversation." - Dr. Elena Markovic

1. What People Report

The side effects documented for PreserVision AREDS 2 fall into two groups.

Commonly reported	Less common, tell your doctor
Upset stomach or vomiting	Severe or persistent stomach pain
Diarrhoea	Severe or ongoing diarrhoea
Constipation	Muscle weakness
Nausea, particularly on an empty stomach	Numbness or tingling

Upset stomach or vomiting

Less common, tell your doctor: Severe or persistent stomach pain

Diarrhoea

Less common, tell your doctor: Severe or ongoing diarrhoea

Constipation

Less common, tell your doctor: Muscle weakness

Nausea, particularly on an empty stomach

Less common, tell your doctor: Numbness or tingling

Most people take it without any problem at all. But the digestive complaints are common enough that they are the usual reason a bottle ends up unfinished.

2. Why the Zinc Is Usually the Answer

AREDS2 formulas contain 80 mg of zinc. The Daily Value is 11 mg. That is more than seven times.

Two things follow from a dose that high.

The amount. Stomach upset and nausea are the most commonly reported problems at that level, and 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.

The form. Most AREDS products use zinc oxide, which is poorly absorbed and more likely to cause stomach upset than zinc citrate. Poor absorption means more of the mineral sitting in the digestive tract rather than being taken up.

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

3. What to Try Before You Stop

None of this is medical advice, and none of it replaces your eye doctor. But three things are worth trying first.

Take it with a full meal, not on an empty stomach. The label directs one soft gel with a meal, twice a day, and food buffers the zinc considerably.

Split the dose across two meals rather than taking both soft gels together.

Check the Supplement Facts panel for whether your zinc is oxide or citrate. It appears in brackets after the word Zinc. Our guide to AREDS2 formulas without the high zinc dose goes through what the research says about lower doses.

4. When to Call Your Eye Doctor Instead

Do not experiment with anything persistent.

Anything in the second column of the table above warrants a call rather than a workaround. Numbness or tingling in particular is worth reporting rather than sitting on, because it can relate to copper status.

And if you have simply been skipping doses, tell them that. A supplement you have quietly abandoned is not protecting anything, and it is information that changes what they offer you.

5. What Your Options Actually Are

Three, depending on your situation.

The lower-zinc route. PreserVision AREDS3, launched May 2026, carries the same AREDS2 nutrients with 25 mg of zinc instead of 80 mg, and Bausch + Lomb cites tolerability as the reason.

The gentler-form route. A product using zinc citrate rather than oxide, at whatever dose your doctor is comfortable with.

The different-question route. If nobody has diagnosed you with macular degeneration, it is worth asking whether you need an AREDS formula at all. The National Eye Institute states there was "no benefit for people with early AMD or for people who do not have AMD." Our guide to AREDS2 alternatives and when they make sense covers that question in full.

Klaris sits in that third category. It uses 25 mg of zinc as zinc citrate with 2 mg of copper as copper citrate, and is built around the three macular carotenoids plus astaxanthin, for everyday macular pigment support in people without a diagnosis.

It is not an AREDS2 formula, it carries less vitamin C and vitamin E than the AREDS doses, and it is not a fix for anyone's side effects - if your eye doctor prescribed AREDS2, that conversation is with them.

6. Frequently Asked Questions

The most commonly reported side effects are digestive: upset stomach or vomiting, diarrhoea, and constipation. More serious versions of the same symptoms are also listed, along with muscle weakness, numbness and tingling. The usual cause is the zinc - AREDS2 formulas contain 80 mg, more than seven times the Daily Value of 11 mg, and most use zinc oxide, a form that is poorly absorbed and more likely to cause stomach upset than zinc citrate. Taking it with a full meal often helps. Numbness or tingling is worth reporting to your doctor rather than managing yourself, as it can relate to copper status.

It is generally better taken with food, and doing so is one of the simplest things to try if it has been upsetting your stomach. The label directs you to take one soft gel with a meal, twice a day. The reason is the zinc: at 80 mg, in the poorly absorbed oxide form used by most AREDS products, a substantial amount can sit in the digestive tract and cause nausea, and food buffers that. Splitting the dose across two meals rather than taking both soft gels together is worth trying too. If neither helps, tell your eye doctor you have been skipping doses rather than simply stopping.

Speak to your eye doctor before stopping, especially if it was prescribed for intermediate or late macular degeneration - but do tell them, because a supplement you have quietly abandoned is not protecting anything. Two practical things to try first: take it with a full meal rather than on an empty stomach, and check whether the Supplement Facts panel says zinc oxide or zinc citrate, since the oxide form is more likely to cause stomach upset. If the problem persists, lower-zinc options exist, including PreserVision AREDS3 at 25 mg. The conversation to have is about tolerability, not about whether to give up.

Still have questions? Contact us.

7. References

National Eye Institute. AREDS/AREDS2 Frequently Asked Questions.
National Eye Institute. Nutritional Supplements for Age-Related Macular Degeneration.
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.

Keep reading

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

Aug 3, 20265 min read

AREDS2 Without the 80 mg of Zinc

Rows of unlabelled supplement bottles on a pharmacy shelf

Aug 3, 20267 min read

AREDS2 Alternatives: What to Take Instead, and When

Amber softgels and white capsules laid out side by side for comparison

Aug 3, 20267 min read

AREDS2 vs AREDS3: What Actually Changed (And Whether You Should Switch)

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.