VITAMIN E LINKED TO MENTAL HEALTH

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VITAMIN E LINKED TO MENTAL HEALTH

By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, April 21, 2008, abstracted from " Vitamin E

Use Is Associated with Improved Survival in an AD Cohort " at the

American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting April

15, 2008

The incidence of Alzheimer Disease (AD) has doubled since 1980. It

currently affects just under 5 million Americans and is expected to

affect 16 million by 2050 (1). It currently costs our healthcare

system over $100 billion each year (2). Fortunately, there are some

simple ways to help maintain mental health, including eating apples

(3), drinking green tea (4) and taking fish oil (5). Now a new study

(6) has found that vitamin E may help with mental health and AD.

In the study, 847 patients diagnosed with AD (average age 73.5 years,

67% of whom were female) were given 2000 IU of vitamin E per day and

followed for just under 5 years. While two-thirds of the patients

consumed the vitamin E with an AD drug called a cholinesterase

inhibitor, less than 10% of the group took vitamin E alone and 15%

consumed no vitamin E.

The researchers found that whether or not they were on the AD drug,

vitamin E supplementation was associated with a 26% reduction in death

in AD patients compared to those who didn't take vitamin E. And

although the 2000 IU of vitamin E per day is significantly higher than

the 22.5 IU per day in adults and 28.5 IU per day in lactating women

currently recommended by the National Institute of Health (7), the

researchers concluded that because " people who took [the AD drug]

without vitamin E did not have a survival benefit " that " more research

needs to be done to determine why this may be the case. "

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA.

You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at

mailto:PitchingDoc@... or visiting his web site at

www.CompleteChiropracticHealthcare.com

Reference:

1. Hebert, LE; Scherr, PA; Bienias, JL; , DA; , DA.

" Alzheimer Disease in the U.S. Population: Prevalence Estimates Using

the 2000 Census. " Archives of Neurology August 2003; 60 (8): 1119 – 1122

2. Ernst, RL; Hay, JW. " The U.S. Economic and Social Costs of

Alzheimer's Disease Revisited. " American Journal of Public Health

1994; 84(8): 1261 – 1264

3. Lee, C. Y. (2004). " Protective Effects of Quercetin and Vitamin C

against Oxidative Stress-Induced Neurodegeneration. " Journal of

Agricultural and Food Chemistry 52: 7514-7517

4. Tan J. Green Tea Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate (EGCG) Modulates

Amyloid Precursor Protein Cleavage and Reduces Cerebral Amyloidosis in

Alzheimer Transgenic Mice J. Neurosci. 2005 25: 8807-8814

5. Wurtman RJ. Synaptic proteins and phospholipids are increased in

gerbil brain by administering uridine plus docosahexaenoic acid

orally. In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 21 April 2006 in

Brain Research

6. American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting

15 April 2008, Poster Sessions III: Aging and Dementia: Clinical II

[P03.076] Vitamin E Use Is Associated with Improved Survival in an AD

Cohort Authors: V. Pavlik, R. Doody, S. Rountree, E. Darby

7. " Vitamin E " posted on http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamine.asp#h3