Food For Thought
THE
MEDICAL RENAISSANCE GROUP
FOOD
FOR THOUGHT
Alzheimers
may become the scourge of the Baby Boomers in the next 10 to 15 years. A
prophylactic is worth while
Best Wishes
Michael
Vitamins
'cut Alzheimer's effect'
Story from
BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/3409221.stm
Published: 2004/01/20
It may
be possible to reduce the effects of Alzheimer's disease by taking the right
combination of vitamins,
Scientists have
found vitamins E and C may protect the ageing brain - but only if taken
together.
They both mop up destructive molecules, called free radicals,
released by the body's metabolic processes.
Researchers at
Brain cells, known
as neurons, are thought to be particularly sensitive to damage caused by free
radicals.
Lead researcher Dr
Peter Zandi said: "These results are 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."
Dr Zandi's team examined data on 4,740 people aged 65 years or
older. Of these 304 showed signs of Alzheimer's disease.
Approximately 17%
of the study participants reported taking vitamin E or C supplements.
Another 20% used
multivitamins, but without a high dosage of vitamin E or C.
Combination
crucial
The researchers
found that taking a combination of vitamin E and C seemed to have a protective
effect.
People taking both
vitamins were 78% less likely to show signs of Alzheimer's than those not
taking the combination.
They found no
benefit from taking either of the vitamins in isolation, or from taking
multivitamins alone.
The
doses...in this study are quite extreme
Dr Susanne Sorensen,
Alzheimer's Society
But there was some evidence
of a protective effect from combining vitamin E with the lower doses of vitamin
C found in multivitamin supplements.
Multivitamins typically
contain the recommended daily allowance of vitamin E (22 IU or 15 mg) and
vitamin C (75-90 mg), while individual supplements contain doses up to 1,000 IU
of vitamin E and 500-1,000 mg or more of vitamin C.
Dr Zandi
said further trials were needed before drawing firm conclusions about the
protective effects of the two vitaimins.
Working together
He told BBC News Online it
was unclear why the two vitamins had to be taken together to have any
beneficial effect in reducing the damage caused by free radicals - known as
oxidative stress.
It was possible that it was
simply a dosage effect - taking two vitamins instead of just one meant more was
circulating around the body.
However, he said:
"There is also evidence of a synergistic effect between the activities of
vitamin E and C.
"Vitamin E is
lipid-soluble and thus sticks around in fat tissues of the body a relatively
long time.
"In contrast, vitamin
C is water-soluble and is rapidly excreted from the body.
"Vitamin C may act to
recharge the antioxidant capacities of vitamin E so that the vitamin E can
continue doing its job of soaking up free radicals and reducing oxidative
stress."
Harriet Millward,
of Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: "Oxidative damage probably occurs to
the brain in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and therefore antioxidants
in food, and possibly in supplements, could help prevent Alzheimer's.
"Randomised prevention
trials are now needed because it is always possible that in a retrospective
study such as this, people taking vitamins might be more health conscious than
those not taking vitamins, and therefore the difference might be due to factors
other than the vitamins."
Dr Susanne Sorensen, of the
Alzheimer's Society, said: "The doses of vitamins vitamin C and E that
made a difference in this study are quite extreme.
"It may be difficult
to find populations outside the
It is thought that
Alzheimer's disease will become an increasing problem as an increasing
proportion of the population lives for longer.
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