Vitamin E Helps Slow Mental Decline in Alzheimer’s Patients

by | Jan 23, 2014 | 2014, Alzheimer's Disease, Brain Health, Vitamin E

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. In a double-blinded placebo-controlled study, individuals with cognitive impairment supplemented with 2000 IU vitamin E functionally declined 18.6 % slower each year as compared to the placebo group.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia among older adults (1) and is the most significant contributor to the $215 billion that dementia costs our healthcare system each year (2). While 5.1 million Americans have Alzheimer’s, another 5.4 million are estimated to have cognitive impairment without dementia (3), totaling more than 10 million Americans with at least some form of cognitive impairment.

Now a new study (4) suggests that Vitamin E may help slow the mental decline seen with Alzheimer’s disease. In the double-blind study, researchers analyzed data from a 2013 study (5) that involved 561 military veterans with a probable diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (6) as evidenced by a Mini-Mental State Examination total score between 12 and 26 (7) and taking a medication called Acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. The participants were given one of the following for an average of 2.27 years:

  • 2,000 IU per day of alpha tocopherol (1,000 IU taken twice per day =  142 subjects)
  • 20 milligrams per day of a medication called memantine (8, 9) (10 mg taken twice per day = 142 subjects)
  • Both vitamin E and memantine (139 subjects)
  • A placebo (140 subjects).

The researchers used the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study/Activities of Daily Living (ADCSADL) Inventory (10) to assess the effectiveness of the supplementation. The ADCSADL measures functional abilities to perform activities of daily living in Alzheimer patients with a broad range of dementia severity. Scores range from 0 to 78, with lower scores indicating worse function.

The researchers found vitamin E supplementation to significantly slow mental decline compared to the placebo group. Specifically, those in the vitamin E group functionally declined 18.6% slower each year as compared to the placebo group (6.08-point decline per year in the ADCSADL compared to 7.47-point decline in the placebo group, p = 0.03), resulting in an average total decrease per patient of 3.15 points more in the placebo group compared to the vitamin E group. The researchers quantified this 3.15-point greater decrease in the placebo group over the course of the study as “either the complete loss of being able to dress or bath independently, for example, or losing independence on any 3 different activities of daily living.”

While the vitamin E group also had 8.2% slower decline compared to the memantine group (6.08 vs 6.60-point decline per year, p– value was below significance at 0.40) and 9.3% slower decline compared to the group with both vitamin E and memantine (6.08 vs 6.7-point decline), (p = 0.49- below significance ).

For the researchers, “alpha tocopherol is beneficial in mild to moderate Alzheimer’s Disease by slowing functional decline and decreasing caregiver burden.”

Source: Dysken, Maurice W., et al. “Effect of vitamin E and memantine on functional decline in Alzheimer disease: the TEAM-AD VA cooperative randomized trial.” Jama 311.1 (2014): 33-44.

© 2014 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.

Posted January 23, 2014.

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY.  You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com

References:

  1. “NIH-supported study finds U.S. dementia care costs as high as $215 billion in 2010” posted on the National Institute of Aging website April 4, 2013
  2. “Prevalence of Alzheimer’s Disease” posted on the National Institute of Aging website
  3. Blassman PL. Prevalence of Cognitive Impairment without Dementia in the United States. Ann Intern Med. 2008 March 18; 148(6): 427–434
  4. Dysken MW.  Effect of vitamin E and memantine on functional decline in Alzheimer disease: the TEAM-AD VA cooperative randomized trial.  JAMA. 2014 Jan 1;311(1):33-44. doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.282834
  5. DyskenMW, Guarino PD, Vertrees JE, et al. Vitamin E and memantine in Alzheimer’s disease: clinical trialmethods and baseline data [published online April 11, 2013]. Alzheimers Dement. doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2013.01.014
  6. McKhann G, Drachman DD, FolsteinM, Katzman R, Price D, Stadlan EM. Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: report of the NINCDS-ADRDAWork Group under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease. Neurology. 1984;34(7):939-944.
  7. FolsteinMF, Folstein SE, McHugh PR.“Mini-mental state”: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatr Res. 1975;12(3):189-198.
  8. Reisberg B, Doody R, Stoffler A, Schmitt F, Ferris S, Mobius HJ; Memantine Study Group. Memantine in moderate-to-severe Alzheimer’s disease. N Engl J Med. 2003;348(14):1333-1341.
  9. Tariot PN, FarlowMR, Grossberg GT, Graham SM, McDonald S, Gergel I; Memantine Study Group. Memantine treatment in patients with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer disease already receiving donepezil: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2004;291(3):317-324.
  10. Galasko D, Bennett D, Sano M, et al. An inventory to assess activities of daily living for clinical trials in Alzheimer’s disease: the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 1997;11(2)(suppl 2):S33-S39.