Tuesday, January 14, 2014. On the heels of the publication of a trial which found a deceleration in functional decline among Alzheimer's disease patients given vitamin E, a study described in the December 2013 issue of the journal Experimental Gerontology uncovered a protective effect for higher levels of the vitamin E subfractions gamma tocopherol, beta tocotrienol and total tocotrienols against the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment.

Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland, the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare, Sweden's Karolinska Institutet, and the University of Perugia in Italy evaluated the association between serum tocopherol and tocotrienol levels and cognitive impairment in 140 participants in the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Dementia (CAIDE) study, which examined Finnish men and women at several time points during midlife, and re-examined survivors in 1998 and 2005-2008. The current study compared 64 subjects diagnosed at the second re-examination with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease with 76 cognitively normal participants. Stored serum samples collected in 1998 were analyzed for alpha, beta, gamma and delta tocopherols; alpha, beta, gamma and delta tocotrienols, and total cholesterol (which may influence serum vitamin E levels).

The researchers uncovered a 73% lower risk of cognitive impairment among those whose serum gamma tocopherol to cholesterol ratio was among the middle third of subjects in comparison with those whose ratio was among the lowest third. Higher serum levels of gamma tocopherol, beta tocotrienol and total tocotrienols were each associated with a significantly lower risk of being cognitively impaired.

"Higher levels of gamma tocopherol, beta tocotrienol, and total tocotrienols seemed to protect against cognitive impairment, even after different adjustments for cholesterol," authors Francesca Mangialasche and colleagues write. "Larger studies with assessments of vitamin E forms at several points in time are warranted to clarify the role of the vitamin E family in the onset and progression of age-related cognitive decline and dementia."
http://www.lef.org/newsletter/2014/0114_Gamma-tocopherol-tocotrienols-protective-against-cognitive-impairment.htm?utm_source=eNewsletter_EZX400E&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Article&utm_content=Button&utm_campaign=2013Wk2-2