Vitamin E may help Alzheimer’s patients live longer
People with Alzheimer’s disease who follow a diet rich in foods with vitamin E, or who take vitamin E supplements, appear to live longer than those who don’t, according to research presented at the American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago.
The study found people who took vitamin E, with or without a cholinesterase inhibitor, were 26% less likely to die than people who didn’t take vitamin E.
“Vitamin E has previously been shown to delay the progression of moderately severe Alzheimer’s disease. Now, we’ve been able to show that vitamin E appears to increase the survival time of Alzheimer’s patients as well,” said study author Valory Pavlik, PhD, with Baylor College of Medicine’s Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center in Houston.
“This is particularly important because recent studies in heart disease patients have questioned whether vitamin E is beneficial for survival.”
The study found vitamin E plus a cholinesterase inhibitor may be more beneficial than taking either agent alone.
In addition to vitamin E supplements, some vegetables oils, nuts, and green leafy vegetables are main food sources of vitamin E. Some fortified cereals in the United States also contain vitamin E.
“The daily amount of vitamin E taken by patients in this study was much higher than what is currently recommended for the general population,” Pavlik said.
