Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine's Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Center in Houston have found that vitamin E could help Alzheimer's patients prolong their lives.
As a part of the study, lead author Valory Pavlik, PhD, and colleagues followed 847 people with Alzheimer's disease for an average of five years.About two-thirds of the group took 1,000 international units of vitamin E twice a day along with an Alzheimer's drug (a cholinesterase inhibitor). Less than 10 percent of the group took vitamin E alone and approximately 15 percent did not take vitamin E.
The researchers found that Alzheimer's patients who took vitamin E, with or without a cholinesterase inhibitor, were 26 percent less likely to die than people who didn't take vitamin E.
"Vitamin E has previously been shown to delay the progression of moderately severe Alzheimer's disease. Now, we've been able to show that vitamin E appears to increase the survival time of Alzheimer's patients as well," Pavlik said.
"This is particularly important because recent studies in heart disease patients have questioned whether vitamin E is beneficial for survival."
It was also found that vitamin E plus a cholinesterase inhibitor may be more beneficial than taking either agent alone.
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In addition to vitamin E supplements, some vegetables oils, nuts, and green leafy vegetables are main food sources of vitamin E. Some fortified cereals in the United States also contain vitamin E.
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Source-ANI
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