January 2004

Vitamins E and C may help reduce risk of Alzheimer’s

Elderly persons who take individual vitamin E and C supplements together may reduce their risk of Alzheimer disease (AD), according to an article in the January issue of The Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

According to the article, the public health threat of AD will continue to grow as people live longer. Previous studies have shown that antioxidant vitamins may protect the brain against damage caused by free radicals and other reactive oxygen species ˆ molecular byproducts of basic cellular metabolism.

Neurons are especially sensitive to damage caused by free radicals, which is believed to be partially responsible for the development of AD. Incorporating antioxidants (which help to neutralize these free radicals) into the diet through food or supplementation may help protect neurons.

Peter P. Zandi, PhD, of The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, and colleagues examined the relationship between antioxidant supplement use and risk of AD in 4.740 elderly residents of Cache County, Utah.

The researchers found the greatest reduction in both prevalence and incidence of AD in participants who used individual vitamin E and C supplements in combination, with or without an additional multivitamin. “Use of vitamin E and C (ascorbic acid) supplements in combination reduced AD prevalence [by about 78 percent] and incidence [by about 64 percent],” the authors write.

The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., and a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Md.

Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), www.jamamedia.org

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