Vitamin C and E Cut Alzheimer's Risk by 64%

Vitamin C and E Cut Alzheimer's Risk by 64%

A study published in the 2/04 issue of the Archives of Neurology involving 4,740 participants over five-years ( the participants were aged 65 or older when the study began in 1995) showed those who had been taking vitamin supplements were at a 78 percent lower risk of the disease than those who had not. At the end of the study, another 104 participants had developed the disease, and the risk factor was 64 percent lower among supplement users. Vitamin E supplements taken contained up to 1,000 international units and vitamin C supplements between 500 and 1,000 micrograms."These results are extremely exciting," study author Peter Zandi of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said. "Our findings suggest that vitamins E and C may offer protection against Alzheimer's disease when taken together in the higher doses available from individual supplements."

Zandi cautioned his was an observational study, and a full-scale controlled trial was needed.