Vitamin E May Help People with Alzheimer’s

Large doses of vitamin E might slow the rate of functional decline for people with Alzheimer’s disease, a new study finds. Functional decline means less ability to care for yourself. The study included 600 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s. They were randomly divided into 4 groups. One group received 2,000 international units (IU) daily of alpha tocopherol, a form of vitamin E. This is a very large prescription dose. Another group received the Alzheimer’s medicine memantine (Namenda). A third group got both medicines. A fourth group received placebo (fake) pills. Researchers kept track of people for an average of 2.3 years. People who took vitamin E alone had a 19% lower rate of functional decline each year than the placebo group. They also needed 2 fewer hours of care each day. But their rate of mental decline was not significantly lower.