Antioxidants Reduce Alzheimer’s Risk
There are close to 5 million Alzheimer’s patients in the United States and it’s costing us about $100 billion to care for these unfortunate individuals. To be sure, there is no treatment currently available that has any significant effect upon the relentless course of thisdisease.
While medications are heavily advertised to both doctors and the general population, current research doesn’t provide any solid evidence that the most commonly recommended “Alzheimer’s drugs” have any real impact on the progression of this affliction. A recent report in the British Medical Journal -Neurology http://www.bmj.com reviewed every study available to determine the usefulness of these drugs. Ultimately, only 22 of the published reports were found to be worthwhile in terms of study design and the conclusion reached after these studies were reviewed was, and I quote:
“Because of flawed methods and small clinical benefits, the scientific basis for recommendations of cholinesterase inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease is questionable.” And further, “Recommendations for the use of cholinesterase inhibitors do not seem to be evidencebased.”
But here’s the good news. It is now quite clear you can dramatically reduce your chances of becoming an Alzheimer’s patient, a disease for which your risk is an astounding 50% if you live to the age of 85 years. In a study recently published in the highly respected journal Archives of Neurology, researchers confirmed the long held suspicion that those individuals using antioxidant supplements had a remarkably reduced risk of developing the disease. In the study entitled, Reduced Risk of Alzheimer Disease in Users of Antioxidant Vitamin Supplements,
http://archneur.ama-assn.org the authors evaluated close to 5000 subjects aged 65 years and older over a 5 year period and found a dramatic correlation between the use of vitamins C and E and prevalence of Alzheimer’s in this population. The risk of Alzheimer’s in those subjects taking both of these common (and nonprescription) antioxidants was reduced by an astounding 78%! This is incredibly important information but unfortunately it received precious little media coverage. But we are about to change allthat.
Comments
January 4th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
wow!
January 13th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
What about anti-oxidants like polyphenols found in green tea?
January 25th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Good point. Here’s what researchers in Israel report:
Tea consumption is varying its status from a mere ancient beverage and a lifestyle habit, to a nutrient endowed with possible prospective neurobiological-pharmacological actions beneficial to human health. Accumulating evidence suggest that oxidative stress resulting in reactive oxygen species generation and inflammation play a pivotal role in neurodegenerative diseases, supporting the implementation of radical scavengers, transition metal (e.g., iron and copper) chelators, and nonvitamin natural antioxidant polyphenols in the clinic. These observations are in line with the current view that polyphenolic dietary supplementation may have an impact on cognitive deficits in individuals of advanced age. As a consequence, green tea polyphenols are now being considered as therapeutic agents in well controlled epidemiological studies, aimed to alter brain aging processes and to serve as possible neuroprotective agents in progressive neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
J Nutr Biochem. 2004 Sep;15(9):506-16
February 7th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Dr. Peerlmutter, I think the fact that statins result in interruption of isopentylation of selenocysteine-tRNA, and that selenocysteine-tRNA is responsible for the expression of all selenoproteins thought to provide the functions of selenium, I find the following important and relevant to this discussion. have you an opinion concerning selenium functions, statins and neurodegenerative diseases? thanks
Decreases in Plasma Selenium Linked to Cognitive Decline in Elderly
Information from Industry
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Feb 01 – Results of a longitudinal cohort study suggest that selenium status decreases with age and may contribute to declines in neuropsychological functions among the elderly.
“Because brain oxidative stress is a cause of cognitive impairment, selenium, which is an antioxidant, may protect against cognitive decline,” Dr. N. Tasnime Akbaraly, of Universite Montpellier, France, and colleagues write in the January issue of Epidemiology.
The researchers recruited 1389 community-dwelling French subjects during 1991 to 1993 for a 9-year longitudinal study with 6 waves of follow-up. The participants ranged in age from 60 to 71 years at baseline when they provided information on sociodemographic factors and were tested to assess cognitive function.
Serum selenium levels were determined using electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. The baseline mean plasma selenium level was 1.09 mol/L, and a decrease was observed over the entire follow-up period. Mean levels of selenium declined -0.055 mol/L at 2 years and -0.096 mol/L at 9 years.
The investigators report that cognitive decline was associated with decreases of plasma selenium over time after controlling for potential confounders.
Among subjects whose plasma selenium levels decreased, there was a higher probability of cognitive decline with greater decreases of plasma selenium. For those who had an increase in their levels of plasma selenium, greater cognitive decline was observed in those with the smallest selenium increases. No association was found between short-term selenium change and cognitive changes.
“Our results, together with information on involvement of selenoproteins in brain functions, support possible relationships between selenium status and neuropsychologic functions in aging people,” Dr. Akbaraly’s team concludes.
“In this context, the preventive effect of selenium supplementation at a nutritional level needs to be evaluated with large-scale studies,” they suggest. “This dynamic approach could shed new lights on the potential benefits of supplementation.”
Epidemiology 2007;18:52-58.
February 7th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
These are excellent points. My interest is in the role of glutathione and it’s important role as a cerebral antioxidant. Specifically, glutathione peroxidase is a selenocysteine-dependent enzyme which is thus dependent upon adequate selenium for appropriate function. Effects of dietary selenium on glutathione peroxidase and thioredoxin reductase activity and recovery from cardiac ischemia-r…Please see our ongoing research with reference to glutathione under the Perlmutter Brain Foundation posting.
March 13th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
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