Vitamin E found to slow Alzheimer’s progression

Are you getting enough vitamin E? While it can be found naturally in foods like broccoli, spinach and sunflower seeds, a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has shown that a daily vitamin E supplement may actually slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. This is because vitamin E improves the immune system and has antioxidant benefits, which helps to decrease damage to the cells. As lead study author Maurice Dysken, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota and former director of the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, says, “A delay in six months over two years, that’s very meaningful to some patients and caregivers.” Specifically, study participants who were given vitamin E slowed the disease by 19%. While more research is needed, Denis Evans, a Rush University Medical Center professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, says the study does have some implications for the future: “That raises the issue of whether we should be looking more at prevention of the disease than treatment of the disease. We should probably emphasize prevention more.”

Concord Monitor, 12/31/13