Vitamin E may Reduce Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease

Vitamin E may also play a role in reducing risk for Alzheimers.  A recent study of 232 Italian adults above the age of 80 years reported that higher blood levels were associated with significantly lower risk of Alzheimer’s Disease.  Those adults whose blood levels of vitamin E were in the highest third of the study had only a 55% chance of getting Alzheimer’s as compared to the adults in the lowest third of vitamin E blood levels.                   

This study by Mangialasche was published in the January 2010 Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Vitamin E is vitamin with many antioxidation properties that protect cells from damage from oxidation. Vitamin E is essential for wound healing, maintaining immunity, fighting

infection, reproduction, heart health, fighting cancer, preventing autoimmune diseases like lupus, and many other functions. The best sources of vitamin E are polyunsaturated vegetable oils, nuts like almonds and walnuts, seeds like sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and wheat germ.  Refined grains like white flour and white rice have very little vitamin E. Numerous studies show that higher consumption of vitamin E (in food or supplements) is associated with significantly lower rates of heart disease.  Vitamin E is available in several chemical forms including d- alpha-tocopherol, d-alpha-tocopherol avetate, d-alpha-tocopherol succinate, d-beta-tocopherol, d-gamma-tocopherol, and d-alpha-tcoctrienol. The best supplement forms contain a mixture of these forms of vitamin E. Synthetic vitamin E usually contains only d-alpha-tocopherol, which is not as potent as the mixed tocopherols (Murray1996).

The recommended daily allowance for vitamin E is 30 international units daily. Consuming a lot of oil and other fats increases the body’s need for vitamin E.  Supplement levels of vitamin E up to 200 international units per day appear to be very safe.