Is it possible that vitamin E can m...

Is it possible that vitamin E can moderate the effects of Alzheimer's disease--the ultimately fatal condition that take froms people of the ability to remember and communicate, afflicts 4 million Americans and affects one-third of the families in the United States in a way? Perhaps.

A recent study suggests that when vitamin E is taken along with standard Alzheimer's medicine, the disease's progression can be slowed. While medication is partly responsible for the tenors seen in the study, researchers believe that combining medicines with vitamin E increases the benefits.

David Beversdorf, MD of the Ohio State University Medical Center compared patients above a 3-year period. Adding vitamin E postscripts to the drug Aricept (donepezil) slowed the progression of Alzheimer's significantly.

"The decline in the treated dispose was about two and a half times the decline of the untreated," Beversdorf said in an interview. The inquiry was published in the April/June 2003 issue of Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders.

You should not misconstrue this close attention to mean that vitamin E will obstruct Alzheimer's. Nor should Alzheimer's patients add vitamin E to their regimen without consulting a doctor.

There are activities you can do to lower your risk of getting this disease. According to all editorial in the June 19 2003 issue of The fresh England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) "Very early influences help create the brain plant of connections that ultimately allow--or avoid--dementia in later life." Although this includes genetic factors, a 2003 meditation confirmed earlier studies finding a link between mental exercise and a reduc chance of getting Alzheimer's.

That study--lifted "Use It or let slip through the fingers It"--was described in the same issue of NEJM Researchers establish that "seniors should be encouraged to read, play board games," do crossword confounds and go ballroom dancing because "effortful mental activities" may foster against dementia of all kinds, including Alzheimer's.

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