Filling your plate with foods high in vitamin E may help reduce your risk for Alzheimer's disease, a new study shows.
For the study, researchers sized up dietary information provided by 5,395 participants (all of whom were 55 years or older and did not have dementia between 1990 and 1993). Over the course of about 9.6 years, 465 study members developed dementia. Among the participants with dementia, 365 were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. In analyzing their data, the researchers found that study members whose diets were highest in vitamin E were 25 percent less likely to develop dementia. Dietary intake of vitamin C and beta-carotene, however, was not associated with a reduction in dementia risk.
In the study, the major food sources of vitamin E were margarine, sunflower oil, butter, cooking fat, soybean oil, and mayonnaise. The study's authors suggest that vitamin E (considered an antioxidant) may help protect against dementia and Alzheimer's by fighting off free radicals.
