Vitamins reduce risk of Alzheimer's disease

The use of high-dose vitamin C and E supplements, taken in combination, may be associated with a substantially reduced incidence of Alzheimer's disease, according to the January 2004 issue of Archives of Neurology.

Both vitamins are antioxidants, which act to protect neurons in the brain against damage caused by free radicals. Neuron damage is associated with the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers tracked 4,740 elderly (65 years or older) subjects for dementia since 1995. Some participants took multivitamins, some took none, and others took supplements of C and E in combination. At the end of the study, those who took high doses of both C and E showed a 78-per-cent reduced incidence of Alzheimer's disease compared with those who took only multivitamins, only vitamin C or E, or no vitamin at all. While current RDAs of vitamin C are 90 mg for men and 75 mg for women, with 15 mg (22 IU) of vitamin E, those who showed a reduced risk for Alzheimer's disease took doses of 500 to 1,500 mg of C and 400 to 1,000 IU of E daily.

More research on the use of antioxidants as a primary preventive measure against Alzheimer's disease is merited.