One softgel supplies 25 mg lutein and 5 mg zeaxanthin from marigold flower extract (the Lutemax 2020 ingredient), carried in sunflower oil; 60 servings; made for NOW Foods.
No Daily Value exists for either carotenoid. The amounts are two and a half times the 10 mg and 2 mg used in the NIH's AREDS2 trial, in the same 5-to-1 ratio. No independent content-testing seal is printed.
Adults who eat few leafy greens and want a defined daily amount of the two carotenoids the retina stores, taken with a meal that contains some fat, while keeping their routine eye exams.
Adults only, per the label. No official upper limit exists; a published risk assessment put the best-documented safe intake of lutein at 20 mg a day, and this softgel is above it. The shell is bovine gelatin; the tocopherols come from soy oil.
What the label shows
We read the Supplement Facts panel from the Amazon listing images for the 60-count bottle and the identical panel on NOW's own product page, both on September 30, 2026. The serving is one softgel; the bottle holds 60.
| Ingredient | Amount per serving | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Lutein (from marigold flowers extract, Tagetes erecta, Lutemax 2020) | 25 mg — DV not established | The NIH's AREDS2 trial used 10 mg a day [1]; the two healthy-adult trials described below used 20 mg of lutein, and 24 mg of the three carotenoids combined, a day [5] [7]. |
| Zeaxanthin (same extract) | 5 mg — DV not established | AREDS2 used 2 mg a day; the 5-to-1 lutein-to-zeaxanthin ratio here matches the trial formula's ratio [1]. |
| Other ingredients | — | Sunflower oil; softgel capsule of bovine gelatin (BSE-free), glycerin and water; mixed tocopherols from non-GMO soy oil. |
Directions are one softgel daily with a fat-containing meal. The caution reads "For adults only. Consult physician if pregnant/nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition." The allergen statement says the product is not manufactured with yeast, wheat, gluten, corn, milk, egg, fish, shellfish or sesame but is made in a facility that processes them; soy is not on that list even though the tocopherols are derived from soy oil. The label says the product is made and quality tested in the USA with globally sourced ingredients, for NOW Foods of Bloomingdale, Illinois; Lutemax 2020 is a trademarked marigold extract from OmniActive Health Technologies.
Three marks are printed. A "GMP Quality Assured" roundel is NOW's own mark for its facility audits (the Amazon listing names the Natural Products Association program; NOW's website names an Intertek certification). Good manufacturing practice is a legal requirement for every US supplement maker, and a facility audit is not a test of what is in this bottle. A kosher mark (Triangle K, "contains gelatin") and a "Non-GMO" box complete the set; the latter is the maker's own statement. There is no USP, NSF or other independent content-testing mark, so our report card reads "None shown". The front-label lines about visual function, blue light, cognition and sleep are structure/function claims carrying the standard notice that the FDA has not evaluated them; they are the seller's words.
What the evidence shows
Lutein and zeaxanthin are plant carotenoids, the same family as beta-carotene, that the body deposits in the retina and lens, above all in the macula, the small central area responsible for sharp straight-ahead vision. The National Eye Institute describes them as possibly acting there as antioxidants and as absorbers of high-energy blue light, and names leafy green vegetables as a good dietary source [6].
The best-known trial is the NIH's AREDS2, and it needs describing carefully, because it is where the 10 mg and 2 mg amounts come from and because its subject is not the seller's category ("eye health"). AREDS2 enrolled 4,203 adults aged 50 to 85 who already had a specific eye condition diagnosed by an eye specialist and were under that specialist's care; participants added 10 mg lutein plus 2 mg zeaxanthin, omega-3s, both, or placebo to an existing vitamin-and-mineral formula [1] [2]. Its findings concern that diagnosed group and that combined formula, not adults with healthy eyes taking a single carotenoid softgel, and the trial's main result is not something this report, or this product, can claim. Three plain NEI points frame it: the AREDS2 formula benefited only people at the later stages of that condition, with no benefit for people who did not have it or had only an early stage; the formula also contains vitamins C and E, zinc and copper, none of which is in this bottle; and the trial's investigators chose lutein and zeaxanthin to replace beta-carotene in the formula largely for safety reasons [1] [3] [6]. For a healthy reader, AREDS2 is a reference point for amounts and safety, not evidence of a benefit.
For adults with healthy eyes, what supplementation measurably does is raise the density of the yellow pigment in the macula, which can be measured without touching the eye. A 2016 meta-analysis of 20 randomized trials, 826 of the participants healthy, found that supplementation increased that pigment density in healthy adults, with a dose-response relationship [4]. Whether that changes everyday vision is less settled. A one-year trial in 120 healthy drivers taking 20 mg of lutein a day reported higher pigment density and better contrast and glare sensitivity in dim conditions, but no significant change in visual acuity [5]. A six-month trial in 48 healthy young adults with at least six hours of daily screen time, taking 24 mg a day of lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin, reported gains in pigment density, glare recovery and contrast, and in self-reported eye strain and sleep quality; it was small, and one author consults for the ingredient's sponsor, so read it as suggestive [7]. The 25 mg of lutein here is slightly above the amounts those trials used. We found no evidence that going above it adds anything, and the NIH has set no recommended intake for either carotenoid.
The "fat-containing meal" instruction has a basis. Carotenoids dissolve in fat, and a controlled study found that plasma lutein rose more than twice as much when lutein esters were eaten with a meal containing 36 g of fat than with one containing 3 g [8]. The sunflower oil inside the softgel helps, but a meal with some fat is the label's sensible advice.
There is no tolerable upper intake level for lutein or zeaxanthin from the Institute of Medicine, and the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements has no fact sheet for them; the NEI's own note is that the two have not been linked to the safety concern seen with beta-carotene [6]. The benchmarks that do exist: a 2006 risk assessment set an "observed safe level" of 20 mg a day for lutein, the intake with the strongest safety data, noting that higher intakes had been tested without adverse effects but with thinner long-term data [9]; and the European Food Safety Authority set an acceptable daily intake for marigold lutein as a food additive of 1 mg per kilogram of body weight, about 70 mg a day for a 154-pound adult [10]. At 25 mg this softgel is above the first benchmark and well below the second. If a multivitamin or another eye formula in your cabinet lists lutein, add the amounts together.
Who it may suit, and who should look elsewhere
This is a single-purpose product with a short label, and the question is mostly whether the amount and the framing fit you.
- It may suit adults past forty whose plates rarely include spinach, kale or other leafy greens and who want a defined daily amount of the two carotenoids, in the AREDS2 ratio, in one softgel.
- It may suit people who spend long days at screens and want the amount used in the small trials above, understanding that those findings are preliminary and partly self-reported.
- Anyone already under the care of an eye specialist should mention it at the next appointment rather than start alone; the specialist may prefer the full AREDS2 formula, a different amount, or nothing. It is not a substitute for a routine eye exam, and it is not the AREDS2 formula: no vitamin C or E, no zinc, no copper.
- Vegetarians should note the bovine-gelatin shell; people avoiding soy should note the soy-derived tocopherols, which the allergen line does not flag.
- Pregnant or nursing readers and anyone taking medication should follow the label's own instruction and ask a clinician first. We found no documented interaction with common medicines, but "not found" is not "none".
- People who would rather stay at or below the 20 mg benchmark can look for a lower-dose lutein softgel; NOW itself sells a 10 mg version, which we have not reviewed.
Price, size and where it is sold
On the Amazon listing for the 60-count bottle (ASIN B01LQEL9F8) we saw $17.99 on Sep 30, 2026, in stock (the listing said only 19 were left), shipped by Amazon and sold by a third-party merchant rather than by Amazon itself or NOW; the seller shown changed between our visits that day (Nature and Herbs on the last one), so check who is selling before you order. Sixty softgels at one a day is 60 days, so about 30 cents a day, matching Amazon's own per-count figure. The 120-count bottle of the same formula (ASIN B0DVNG2VDC) was $26.00 that day, In Stock, shipped and sold by Amazon.com, or about 22 cents a day. Both listings were marked non-returnable for food-safety reasons, with an exception for items that arrive damaged or defective; Amazon's general returns help page ("About Our Returns Policies", read the same day) says most items can be returned within 30 days of delivery. The UPC on the label is 733739030641.
Sources
- National Eye Institute. AREDS and AREDS2 clinical trials: design, formulas, randomization arms and major findings. Updated October 22, 2025. link
- Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 Research Group. Primary report of the AREDS2 randomized trial of lutein plus zeaxanthin and omega-3 fatty acids in 4,203 participants. JAMA, 2013. link
- AREDS2 Research Group. Ten-year follow-up of the AREDS2 cohort: long-term outcomes of adding lutein and zeaxanthin or omega-3s, AREDS2 Report 28. JAMA Ophthalmology, 2022. link
- Peking University group. Meta-analysis of 20 randomized trials of lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin supplementation on pigment density in the macula, in patients and healthy adults. Nutrients, 2016. link
- Shanghai group. One-year randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 20 mg lutein a day on visual performance in 120 healthy drivers. Nutrition, 2013. link
- National Eye Institute. AREDS and AREDS2 frequently asked questions: who benefited, what the carotenoids are, risks and side effects. Updated November 19, 2020. link
- University of Georgia group. Six-month placebo-controlled trial of 24 mg a day of lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin in 48 healthy young adults with high screen time. Foods, 2017. link
- Unilever Research group. Effect of the amount of dietary fat on the bioavailability of lutein esters and other fat-soluble compounds in humans. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2000. link
- Council for Responsible Nutrition authors. Risk assessment for the carotenoids lutein and lycopene, with an observed safe level of 20 mg a day for lutein. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, 2006. link
- European Food Safety Authority, ANS Panel. Scientific opinion on the re-evaluation of lutein (E 161b) as a food additive, establishing an ADI of 1 mg/kg body weight. EFSA Journal, 2010. link
- NOW Foods. Lutein & Zeaxanthin softgels product page: Supplement Facts, other ingredients, suggested usage, caution, allergen statement (cited as the label source, not as a place to buy). Accessed September 30, 2026. link
- Amazon.com. Help page "About Our Returns Policies" and the product listings for ASINs B01LQEL9F8 and B0DVNG2VDC (price, stock, seller and return terms). Read September 30, 2026.
This report is educational and is not medical advice. Ask a qualified clinician before starting any supplement, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or take medication.