Antioxidant-Rich Diet Seems to Ward Off Alzheimer's

But the two studies produced some contradictory findings, which may be an inevitable drawback of asking future victims of the brain-robbing disease to reliably describe the content of their diets.

Scientists have long tried to decipher the beneficial impact of Vitamins C and E, which are antioxidants that bind with and inactivate harmful "free radicals." Created as the body's cells metabolize, free radicals harm cell structures and DNA and have been blamed for causing everything from premature aging, to dementia to some cancers.

Antioxidants' benefits extend to reducing the toxicity of B-amyloid, a prominent component of the plaques found in the damaged brains of Alzheimer's disease victims.

The two studies both concluded that Vitamin E -- found in green leafy vegetables, fortified cereals, cantaloupe, seeds and nuts, vegetable and olive oils, and whole grain products -- reduced the risk of developing Alzheimer's.

The nine year Dutch study of more than 5,000 people aged 55 or older living in Rotterdam concluded that diets also rich in antioxidants Vitamin C, flavonoids and beta-carotene were protective against Alzheimer's.

The protective effect was especially true among smokers, considered another risk factor for Alzheimer's, according to study author Marianne Engelhart of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association ( news - web sites). A total of 149 participants developed Alzheimer's during the study period.

TWO SETS OF CONCLUSIONS

However, a smaller seven-year study of 815 subjects published in the same journal found a protective effect only with Vitamin E and not necessarily the other antioxidants.

"The most significant finding of our study was that the more vitamin E that people consumed in their diets from foods, the lower their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease," said study author Martha Morris, a professor of internal medicine at Rush Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago.

Participants who were in the top 5th percentile in their intake of Vitamin E had a 67 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer's compared with those in the lowest 5th percentile, the report said.

In Morris' study, vitamins taken in supplement form did not provide the protective effect, and dietary Vitamin E did not protect those with a genetic susceptibility to Alzheimer's.

An editorial accompanying the studies said taken together, they left questions about the relationship between diet and Alzheimer's, and raised doubts about asking elderly subjects to report on their own habits.

"The most worrisome possibility is that the apparent association (between vitamin intake and Alzheimer's disease) might be due to an influence of preclinical illness either on diet or supplement use," wrote co-authors Daniel Foley, of the National Institute of Aging in Bethesda, Maryland, and Lon White of the Pacific Health Research Institute in Honolulu.

"Despite the concordance of the finding (on Vitamin E), these two studies do not provide the final answer to whether antioxidant vitamins are truly protective against Alzheimer's disease," they wrote.

An estimated 37 million people worldwide suffer from dementia, with Alzheimer's disease the most common type.

The Original Story from: yahoo