Q. I just heard on the news that large doses of vitamins C and E have been shown to help stave off Alzheimer’s in older people. Do you know anything about this? And if this is true, what constitutes a large dose? Apparently it is more than what is supplied in a regular daily multivitamin.
A. The research published in the Archives of Neurology (Jan 2004) shows that people who took supplements of both vitamin E and vitamin C were much less likely to have Alzheimer’s disease.
Since the investigators were asking over 5,000 people what dietary supplements they took, the doses varied. Protection was seen at doses higher than those normally found in multivitamins (22 IU of vitamin E and 75 to 90 mg of vitamin C).
This research is promising but other studies have not shown such benefit. A large, long-term trial of vitamins against placebo is needed to confirm these preliminary results.
