Vitamin E intake in food and supplements may help slow decline in mental functioning among older people. High amounts of vitamin E from foods appears to be protective from cognitive decline.

The researchers theorized that vitamin E, an antioxidant, may counteract the damage done to brain cells by free radicals, which are byproducts of normal body processes that can damage tissue and have been linked to disease. Previous research has suggested that people who consume more vitamin E retain mental function and are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease.

According to the findings over 60% of the nearly 3000 study participants showed some decline in their mental function during the course of the study, while 39% had no decline or even improved. The group who reported the highest intakes of vitamin E had a slower decline in mental function than those whose vitamin E intake was lowest.

There was a 36% reduction in the rate of decline for people in the highest fifth of intake of vitamin E compared to those in lowest fifth of intake. Vitamin E intake included both vitamin E in food and supplements.

And those with the highest intake of vitamin E in food had a 32% reduction in their rate of mental decline, compared to those with the least vitamin E in their diets.

For those who took vitamin E supplements, the effect on mental skill was only seen among those who received little vitamin E from their diet, but not in those who already received lots of the vitamin in their diet. There may be a ceiling effect, and if you taking more, it's not helpful.

However, because the number of people taking supplements during the study doubled, possibly in response to cognitive decline, it was hard for researchers to draw conclusions about whether supplement use was effective on its own in maintaining the brain.

By contrast, vitamin C seemed to have only a limited effect on mental function. "We also don't feel that our data on vitamin C was definitive," Morris said. "The association wasn't consistent."

The team recently reported similar findings for vitamin E and Alzheimer's disease. High intake of the nutrient was linked to a 70% reduction in the risk of developing the disease during a 4-year period. Together the studies strongly suggest that vitamin E has some protective effect on the brain.

Archives of Neurology July 2002;59:1125-1132

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

The researchers uncovered a highly significant truth about vitamin E. With respect to preserving brain function, dietary vitamin E appears to be superior to that obtained from taking supplements, as no additional benefit from supplements was seen if people already had enough vitamin E in their diet. The point? Eat a healthy diet. Start with my eating plan. If following the plan closely proves too difficult, then definitely consider taking vitamin E supplements, about 400 units per day. I don't believe there is any additional benefit from taking a higher dose. I might be wrong on this one, but that is my current belief. Lisa is a dental hygienist for over 11 years and she provided an early response to this article that confirms this point. She finds that her patients that take more than the RDA of 400 IU's for Vitamin E -- - do not heal and they bleed excessively. She did several "trial and error" type experiments with her patients that never heal from periodontal treatment and it always is the patients that take 1000-1500 IU of Vitamin E -- -that never heal and bleed excessively. Once the E is taken away -- 2 weeks later -- they heal and look like a healthy mouth. When we get our patients off the vitamin E -- they heal correctly and the bleeding goes away. Having established that dietary vitamin E is ideal, I still do suggest that most of us should also be on supplemental vitamin E. It may not provide additional brain protection if you are on a good diet, but it will help in other respects. One of the most important is it will protect the highly perishable omega-3 fish oils once they are in your body (a high quality extra virgin olive oil may also be useful here as it has a fat called squalene that serves as a potent anti-oxidant, protecting perishable fats like omega-3 oils.) Related Articles: Vitamin E May Lower Risk of Asthma and Allergies Vitamin E May Reduce Heart Disease in Diabetics Vitamin E Improves Circulation in Diabetics Lowering Blood Sugar Raises Glutathione and Vitamin E Levels Vitamin E-Who Are You Going to Believe?