Vitamin E supplementation associated with increased survival of Alzheimer’s

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Vitamin E supplementation associated with increased survival of

Alzheimer's disease patients

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Rebuttal to allegation that certain vitamins may shorten lifespan.

The results of a study presented at the American Academy of

Neurology's 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting held April 12–19, 2008 in

Chicago suggest that Alzheimer's patients who supplement with vitamin

E may live longer than those who do not use the vitamin.

Valory Pavlik, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine's Alzheimer's

disease and Memory Disorders Center in Houston and her colleagues

followed 847 men and women with Alzheimer's disease, beginning in 1990

for an average of five years. About two-thirds of the participants

consumed 1,000 international units of vitamin E twice per day along

with a cholinesterase inhibitor drug commonly used to treat their

disease. Fewer than 10 percent of the remaining subjects used vitamin

E alone, and 15 percent used neither therapy.

After adjusting for demographics, duration of symptoms at diagnosis,

and baseline disease severity, analysis of the data showed that

participants who were using vitamin E with or without drug treatment

had a 26 percent lower risk of dying than those who did not use the

vitamin. Vitamin E used alone was associated with an 18 percent

reduction in risk. While those who used a cholinesterase inhibitor

drug without vitamin E showed only a 1 percent reduction in mortality

compared with those who received no treatment, the study's results

suggest that a combination of the drug and vitamin E appeared to be

more effective than either treatment alone.

" Vitamin E has previously been shown to delay the progression of

moderately severe Alzheimer's disease, " Dr Pavlik stated. " Now, we've

been able to show that vitamin E appears to increase the survival time

of Alzheimer's patients as well. This is particularly important

because recent studies in heart disease patients have questioned

whether vitamin E is beneficial for survival. "

" The daily amount of vitamin E taken by patients in this study was

much higher than what is currently recommended for the general

population, " she noted.

" Our findings show that people who took a cholinesterase inhibitor

without vitamin E did not have a survival benefit, " Dr Pavlik added.

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