Alzheimer's patients' decline slowed by vitamin E supplements, scientists say

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/dec/31/alzheimers-patients-decline-vitamin-e-supplements

Version 0 of 1.

Daily supplements of vitamin E can slow functional decline associated with Alzheimer's disease, research has found.

Over a period of 2.3 years, patients with mild-to-moderate symptoms who took the supplements experienced an annual 19% reduction in the extent to which Alzheimer's affected their daily lives.

The effect amounted to a "clinically meaningful" delay of 6.2 months in the deterioration of ability to deal with daily activities such as shopping, preparing meals and travelling, according to the authors of the US study.

A total of 613 patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's took part in the study. All were already receiving medication for their symptoms.

One group of 152 patients received a daily dose of 2,000 international units (IU) of alpha-tocopherol, a form of vitamin E. Others received either a placebo, a daily dose of the anti-Alzheimer's drug memantine, or a combination of vitamin E and memantine.

Neither the memantine nor the combination of memantine and vitamin E was as beneficial as the alpha-tocopherol, the trial results showed.

Change in functional decline was assessed using the Alzheimer's Disease Co-operative Study/Activities of Daily Living (ADCS-ADL) inventory, which scores the coping ability of patients from zero to 78.

Compared with those taking vitamin E, the placebo group's scores were reduced by three or more units on average. Patients taking the supplements saw their caregiver time reduced by about two hours a day.

"A loss of this magnitude could translate into either the complete loss of being able to dress or bath independently, for example, or losing independence on any three different ADLs," said the researchers, led by Dr Maurice Dysken, from the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

"Because vitamin E is inexpensive, it is likely these benefits are cost-effective as alpha-tocopherol improves functional outcomes and decreases caregiver burden," they added.

Professor Kenneth Davis, president of the Mount Sinai Health System in New York, which took part in the study, said: "Now that we have a strong clinical trial showing that vitamin E slows functional decline and reduces the burdens on caregivers, vitamin E should be offered to patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease."

Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.