Nuts & Seeds to help Alzheimer's

This came through a Down syndrome list I'm on and I thought it would be helpful to share.

Snacking on nuts and seeds 'could keep Alzheimer's at bay'

By Fiona Macrae
Last updated at 9:37 PM on 5th July 2010

Snacking on nuts could help keep the mind sharp into old age, research suggests.

A study has credited vitamin E - found in nuts, seeds and olive oil - with warding off Alzheimer's.

Pensioners with the highest amounts of the 'anti-ageing' vitamin in their blood were around half as likely to develop the devastating disease as those with the least vitamin E in their bodies.
Nuts are a rich source of Vitamin E which may ward off dementia. However, the Food Standards Agency warns that high doses of the vitamin can be harmful

Nuts are a rich source of Vitamin E which may ward off dementia. However, the Food Standards Agency warns that high doses of the vitamin can be harmful

The finding suggests that nuts and oils could provide a cheap and tasty way of keeping the mind healthy as the years advance.

Alzheimer's affects some 400,000 Britons and around 500 new cases are diagnosed every day.

The Swedish researchers measured vitamin E in samples of blood taken from 232 men and women. All were aged 80 or older at the start of the study and free of dementia.

After six years, 57 had developed Alzheimer's, the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease reports.

However, the disease was around half as common in those boasting the most vitamin E at the start of the study.

Previous research into the subject has produced conflicting results but the researchers believe this could be because it mainly focused on one sub-type of vitamin E, rather than looking at it as a whole.

Lead researcher Dr Francesca Mangialasche, of Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, said: 'Vitamin E is a family of eight natural components, but most studies related to Alzheimer's disease investigate only one of these components.

'We hypothesised that all the vitamin E family members could be important in protecting against Alzheimer's disease.

'If confirmed, this result has implications for both individuals and society, as 70 percent of all dementia cases in the general population occur in people over 75 years of age, and the study suggests a protective effect of vitamin E against AD in individuals aged 80-plus.'

She added that with previous research linking one particular form of vitamin E found in supplements with premature death, people would be better off getting a mix of the different forms of the compound from their diet.

A vegetable, fruit, nut and olive oil-rich Mediterranean diet could be particularly beneficial.

'Our findings need to be confirmed by other studies but they open up the possibility that the balanced presence of different vitamin E forms can have an important neuroprotective effect.'

The Food Standards Agency warns that high doses of the vitamin can be harmful and says that people should be able to get all the need from a balanced diet.