Jan 07, 2014 – Vitamin E

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ANCHOR LEAD: IF YOU HAVE ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE YOU MAY WANT TO START TAKING VITAMIN E,
ELIZABETH TRACEY REPORTS

Vitamin E was the darling of the dementia world several years ago when it appeared to help slow down the pace of cognitive decline, but then fell out of favor as additional studies came to conflicting conclusions. Now a study in JAMA has resurrected the strategy. Constantine Lyketsos, an Alzheimer’s disease expert at Johns Hopkins, explains. LYKETSOS: What this very impressive VA study does is it essentially replicates a prior randomized trial that was published in the 1990s, suggesting that very high dose vitamin E, 2000 units a day, which is five times higher than the recommended daily allowance from the dietary recommendations, might delay progression by as much as six months of functional loss. There aren’t that many things out that that we have shown have that kind of impact so most folks with Alzheimer’s disease right now should consider taking this therapy. :34

At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.