Taking vitamins E and C could reduce Alzheimer's risks: study

Taking antioxidant vitamin supplements, particularly vitamins E and C, could help protect the brain against damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published today.

Conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions, the study claimed that combining antioxidant vitamin supplements may be "an ideal prevention strategy" as they are relatively nontoxic and are thought to have wide-ranging health benefits.

Lead author, Peter Zandi, said that the results were "extremely exciting".

"Our study suggests that the regular use of vitamin E in nutritional supplement doses, especially in combination with vitamin C, may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease,” he said.

The researchers examined data from a large, population-based investigation of the prevalence and incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

Approximately 17% of participants reported taking vitamin E or C supplements – these individuals were significantly more likely to be female, younger, better educated and reported to be in better general health when compared to non-supplement users.

In addition to those who took vitamin supplements, another 20% of study participants used multivitamins, but without a high dosage of vitamin E or C.

The incidence of Alzheimer’s disease was found to be reduced when vitamin E and C supplements were combined, researchers concluded.

However, there was "no notable reduction in the risk of Alzheimer’s disease" when vitamin E or vitamin C was taken alone, or with multivitamins.

The study, 'Reduced Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease in Users of Antioxidant Vitamin Supplements', was published in this month's edition of the Archives of Neurology journal.

(gmcg)