Benefits
Tear production + stability + quality (8-week trial)
In a published dry eye trial, Nutritears vs placebo produced significant improvements in tear production, tear stability, tear quality, and tear osmolarity. All 60 participants had mild to moderate dry eye syndrome diagnosed on eye examination, so these are results in a diagnosed population rather than in generally healthy eyes, and the trial was sponsored in full by the ingredient maker.
75% reduction in artificial tears use
In the same trial, artificial-tears use was significantly reduced in the Nutritears group from 2.47 times per day to 0.73 times per day — a 75% reduction — while placebo use remained largely unchanged. The comparison is that group's average drop use over days 0 to 14 against days 29 to 56, which the paper reports as a 75.6% reduction. It was a secondary outcome in the 30 people taking the supplement, and the larger 155-person trial of the same blend found no difference between groups in artificial tear use, so this figure is unreplicated and the bigger trial points the other way.
Reduced ocular inflammation + surface damage
The trial documented reductions in ocular inflammation and ocular surface damage with Nutritears vs placebo. Inflammation drives the dry eye cycle. In these trials inflammation was measured as tear MMP-9 and surface damage as corneal and conjunctival staining, both in people who already had a dry eye diagnosis. Those are marker changes in a diagnosed population, not evidence that a supplement manages an eye disease.
Larger trial: 155 adults, speed improvements
A larger sponsored study showed significant improvements in participant-reported ocular symptoms within 2 weeks vs placebo, maintained through the end of the study via the SPEED (Standard Patient Evaluation of Eye Dryness) questionnaire. Well tolerated with no serious adverse events. The 155 participants all had clinically diagnosed dry eye disease with symptom scores of 12 to 40 on the Ocular Surface Disease Index, and the trial was funded by OmniActive with financial support from Bausch + Lomb, with employees of both companies among the authors.
2-week onset for measurable benefits
Some improvements were observed within 2 weeks of supplementation in the published clinical trial. Fast onset for an oral dry eye intervention — addresses consumer expectation for noticeable benefits vs gradual nutrient-based effects. Both trials recorded day 14 improvements in symptom questionnaires, and the 2021 trial also recorded a longer tear break-up time at day 14, in participants who had diagnosed dry eye disease rather than occasional dryness.
Tear film homeostasis restoration
Nutritears may help restore tear film homeostasis rather than simply adding tear volume the way artificial tears do. That is the manufacturer's rationale, not a measured result. No trial measured a root cause. What the trials measured over 8 weeks was symptom scores, tear volume, break-up time, osmolarity, surface staining and a tear inflammation marker, and nothing longer than 8 weeks has been published.
Digital device context (survey figures, not a product result)
These often quoted numbers are survey and market figures, not results for this product: nearly 70% of surveyed consumers attribute dry eye symptoms to digital device use, and an estimated 16.4 million US adults have diagnosed dry eye disease (2013 National Health and Wellness Survey). Neither published trial measured screen time, digital device use or screen related symptoms.
Multi-modal nutritional approach
Three bioactives selected based on mechanism of action to address multifactorial dry eye: lutein/zeaxanthin (antioxidant + macular pigment), curcuminoids (anti-inflammatory), vitamin D3 (immune modulation and tear film). This describes how the formula was designed, not an outcome anyone measured. Both trials tested the finished blend against placebo, so no result can be assigned to lutein, curcuminoids or vitamin D3 individually, and no trial compared the blend against any single ingredient.
Mechanism of action
Lutein/zeaxanthin antioxidant + blue light filter
Lutein and zeaxanthin (from OmniActive's Lutemax 2020 marigold extract) accumulate in macular pigment, filtering blue light from digital screens and reducing oxidative stress in eye tissues. That macular pigment and blue light filtering effect comes from separate lutein research, not from the two dry eye trials of this blend, which did not measure macular pigment, blue light exposure or screen related symptoms.
Curcuminoid anti-inflammatory action
Curcuminoids (200 mg) from turmeric have well-characterized anti-inflammatory effects via NF-κB pathway inhibition and other mechanisms. Persistent dry eye involves inflammation at the eye surface. In both trials of this blend the tear inflammation marker MMP-9 fell versus placebo in people who already had a dry eye diagnosis, which is a marker change rather than interruption of a disease process.
Vitamin D3 tear film support
Vitamin D3 (600 IU) supports immune modulation and ocular surface health. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased dry eye incidence. The 600 IU dose addresses baseline insufficiency rather than treating acute deficiency. Multi-mechanism eye health support.
Integrative Actives platform — particle size reduction
OmniActive's patent-pending Integrative Actives platform reduces particle size of bioactives plus incorporates bioenhancers to fit the actives into one small softgel. That is the supplier's description of its own manufacturing process rather than a tested claim, and no published comparison of absorption against a conventional blend is cited on this page.
Tear film homeostasis restoration
Nutritears is positioned as supporting tear film homeostasis rather than simply adding tear volume. That is the manufacturer's design rationale. The trials recorded symptom scores, tear volume, break-up time, osmolarity, surface staining and a tear inflammation marker over 8 weeks. No root cause was measured and no outcome beyond 8 weeks has been published.
Clinical trials
Published randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial evaluating Nutritears in subjects with mild-to-moderate dry eye syndrome (DES). 8-week intervention. Comprehensive dry eye outcomes including tear production, stability, quality, osmolarity, ocular inflammation, surface damage. Published in Ophthalmology and Therapy.
60 people with mild to moderate dry eye syndrome. 8-week intervention with Nutritears or placebo after breakfast.
Significant improvements in tear production, tear stability, tear quality, tear osmolarity. Reductions in ocular inflammation and ocular surface damage. Artificial tears use reduced from 2.47 times/day to 0.73 times/day (75% reduction) — vs unchanged in placebo group. Symptom score and tear break-up time were already significantly better than placebo at day 14. No safety issues were reported over the 56 days. The study, including the journal publication fee, was sponsored in full by OmniActive Health Technologies, the ingredient maker.
Prospective randomized double-blind parallel placebo-controlled study evaluating NutriTears efficacy and safety in 155 adult participants aged 18 to 65 with clinically diagnosed dry eye disease and symptom scores of 12 to 40 on the Ocular Surface Disease Index. 56-day (8-week) intervention. Bausch+Lomb-sponsored confirmatory trial. Standard speed questionnaire outcomes.
155 adults aged 18 to 65 with clinically diagnosed dry eye disease, symptom scores of 12 to 40 on the Ocular Surface Disease Index. 56-day intervention with NutriTears (n=77) or placebo (n=78). Artificial tears permitted.
Significant improvements in participant-reported ocular symptoms by day 14 (p<0.05). Significant improvements in frequency and severity of dry eye symptoms (speed questionnaire), maintained to day 56 (p<0.001). NutriTears well-tolerated; no serious adverse events. Artificial tear use did not differ between the groups in this trial (42.1% versus 47.5% still using drops at day 56, p = 0.562), which does not reproduce the drop reduction reported in the smaller 2021 trial. Funded by OmniActive with financial support from Bausch + Lomb, with employees of both companies among the authors.
This is not a separate trial. The 59 subjects are the 59 of 60 participants who completed the 8-week trial described in the first card (Radkar 2021), which OmniActive used for its 2021 launch announcement. The intervention ran 56 days with assessments at days 14, 28 and 56, not 2 weeks.
The 59 people who completed that same 2021 trial, all with mild to moderate dry eye syndrome diagnosed on Schirmer, symptom index, tear break-up time or osmolarity criteria. The intervention was 8 weeks, not 2 weeks.
At the day 14 assessment of that trial, symptom scores and tear break-up time were already better than placebo, which is where the two week wording comes from. The full 8-week result is the one reported in the first card, and these are the same 60 people rather than an extra study.