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High Blood Levels of Vitamin E
Reduces Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease,
Swedish Study Finds
High levels of several vitamin E components in the blood
are associated with a decreased risk for Alzheimer’s disease
(AD) in advanced age, suggesting that vitamin E may help
prevent cognitive deterioration in elderly people. This is the
conclusion reached in a Swedish study published in the
July 2010 issue of the "Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease".
“Vitamin E is a family of eight natural components, but most
studies related to Alzheimer’s disease investigate only one of
these components, tocopherol,” explained the research team.
“We hypothesized that all the vitamin E family members could
be important in protecting against Alzheimer’s Disease. If
confirmed, this result has implications for both individuals and
society, as 70 percent of all dementia cases in the general
population occur in people over 75 years of age, and the study
suggests a protective effect of vitamin E against Alzheimer’s
Disease in individuals aged 80 and over.”
The study was conducted at the Aging Research Center (ARC),
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, in collaboration with
the Institute of Gerontology and Geriatrics, University of Perugia,
Italy. The study included a sample of 232 participants from the
Kungsholmen Project, a population-based longitudinal study
on aging and dementia in Stockholm (Kungsholmen parish).
All participants were aged 80+ years and were dementia-free
at the beginning of the study (baseline). After 6-years of
follow-up, 57 Alzheimer’s Disease cases were identified.
The blood levels of all eight natural vitamin E components were
measured at the beginning of the study. Subjects with higher
blood levels (highest tertile) were compared with subjects who
had lower blood levels (lowest tertile) to verify whether these two
groups developed dementia at different rates. The study found
that subjects with higher blood levels of all the vitamin E complex
forms had a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease,
compared to subjects with lower levels. After adjusting for various
confounders, the risk was reduced by 45-54%, depending on the
vitamin E component.
The researchers note that the protective effect of vitamin E
seems to be related to the combination of the different forms.
Another recent study indicated that supplements containing
high doses of the E vitamin form ±-tocopherol may increase
mortality, emphasizing that such dietary supplements, if not
used in a balanced way, may be more harmful than previously
thought.
“Elderly people as a group are large consumers of vitamin E
supplements, which usually contain only ±-tocopherol, and this
often at high doses,” said the researchers. “Our findings need
to be confirmed by other studies, but they open up for the
possibility that the balanced presence of different vitamin E
forms can have an important neuroprotective effect.”
Story Source: Karolinska Institutet.
Journal Reference:
High plasma levels of vitamin E forms and reduced Alzheimer’s
disease risk in advanced age. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 2010;
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