Vitamin E is the ‘brain nutrient’ that protects against dementia

Vitamin E has emerged as the ‘brain nutrient’ in a test with other vitamins. People who get plenty of the vitamin from their diet are less likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, new research has discovered. They tested the vitamin against three other antioxidants – vitamin C, beta carotene and flavonoids – on a group of 5,395 participants aged 55 years and older. Over the following nine years, 465 of the participants developed dementia, and 365 of these were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Those who had consumed the most vitamin E – which they got from a diet that included butter, sunflower oil and soybean oil – were 25 per cent less likely to develop dementia compared with those who consumed the least amount. Researchers aren’t sure why vitamin E is so good for the brain, but it seems to have the properties necessary to combat inflammation, a characteristic of Alzheimer’s. (Source: Archives of Neurology, 2010; 67: 819-25).

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