Vitamin E Supplements May Reduce ALS Risk

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Vitamin E Supplements May Reduce ALS Risk

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 19 - Vitamin E supplementation may play a role

in preventing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to the results

of a study in the January issue of the ls of Neurology.

Dr. Alberto Ascherio, of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and

colleagues compared the ALS risk in subjects who regularly used the

antioxidant vitamins E and C and non-users.

Included in the analysis were 957,740 subjects at least 30 years of age who

participated in the American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Study II.

Data on vitamin use were collected in 1982 and ALS death rates between 1989

and 1998 were obtained via linkage with the National Death Index. A total of

525 subjects died of ALS during follow-up.

Long-term users of vitamin E had a 62% lower ALS mortality than non-users.

No significant associations were observed for vitamin C or multivitamin

supplement use. No difference in ALS rate was noted between occasional

vitamin E users and nonusers.

Compared with non-users, the relative risk in subjects who regularly used

vitamin E for less than 10 years and those who regularly used vitamin E for

10 years or longer were 0.59 and 0.38, respectively (p = 0.004).

" Oxidative stress appears to act in concert with other mechanisms that have

been implicated in the pathogenesis of motor neuron degeneration in ALS, "

Dr. Ascherio's group writes.

The researchers suggest that " vitamin E, by reducing oxidative stress,

therefore could influence several downstream events that result in the death

of motor neurons. "

Ann Neurol 2005;57:104-110.