Vitamin E Treatment in Alzheimer's Disease

 - Does It Work?

The interest in vitamin E treatment in alzheimer's disease came from a study from the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative.

The idea was to test whether taking vitamin e and/or Selegiline (which inhibits an enzyme in the brain) slowed the progression of dementia and delayed the time before a person needed ongoing care.

The study determined that vitamin e treatment in alzheimers and Selegiline delayed nursing home entry and disability, but did not impact on the worsening of the brain's cognitive function.

But because of the way the study was set up, in terms of the patients used in the study and the control group, there is a question over whether this is really a viable result in practice for most people with Alzheimers.

These differences were adjusted for in a review from The Cochrane Collaboration, which is a non profit and independent organization set up to "produces and disseminates systematic reviews of healthcare interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions".

And it was found, unfortunately, that there was not enough evidence to recommend vitamin E treatment in alzheimer's disease.

And another study called the Memory Impairment Study and funded by the NIA looked at the effects of donepezil (Aricept), vitamin E, or a placebo on individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment. And vitamin e had no effect compared to the placebo on these individuals, which supports the conclusions arrived at by the Cochrane Collaberation that vitamin E treatment in alzheimer's disease is not really effective or recommended.

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