Vitamins, Ibuprofen Reduce Alzheimer's Risk
Fotuhi M. American Academy of Neurology 58th Annual Meeting. 2006.
For patients at high risk of Alzheimer's disease, taking a combination of vitamins E and C plus ibuprofen significantly reduces their risk, according to a new longitudinal study. For people at low risk, taking vitamin C and E alone was sufficient to further reduce their risk. However, for those with apolipoprotein epsilon-4 (APOE-epsilon-4) alleles, the combination exerts a synergistic benefit.
Researchers prospectively followed nearly 5,000 elderly residents of Cache County, Utah for 8 years, taking into account their regular consumption of vitamins C and E, ibuprofen, or a combination of the three.
The investigators identified 127 subjects who regularly consumed all three agents. Results showed that this group exhibited significantly less decline in Modified Mini-Mental State Examination scores. After adjusting for age, gender, APOE genotype, hypertension, cholesterol, stroke, coronary artery bypass surgery, and myocardial infarction, those who used all three agents performed better than nonusers by approximately 1 point every 2 years.