Study: Vitamin E Plus Aricept May Slow Alzheimer's Progression

Vitamin E plus the dementia drug Aricept® (donepezil) may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study by Ohio State University researchers.

The researchers found that Alzheimer patients taking this combined therapy performed much better on tests of cognitive ability than Alzheimer patients who had not taken either substance.

"There were notable cognitive differences even after three years of combined therapy," said study co-author David Beversdorf, assistant professor of neurology at Ohio State University. "It slowed down the cognitive decline that characterizes the disease."

Beversdorf and his colleagues studied 40 Alzheimer's patients who took daily doses of both vitamin E and donepezil. Their annual cognitive ability test scores were compared to those of Alzheimer's patients who had not taken Aricept and vitamin E.

The decline in cognitive test scores of patients who had not taken either agent was three times greater after a year than the decline in scores of the patients taking the combined therapy.

"Both treatments are accepted strategies in treating Alzheimer's disease," Beversdorf said. "But no long-term study had ever looked at the combination to see if it indeed helped patients…It appears that long-term treatment with both vitamin E and donepezil has a notable impact on retaining mental function in patients with Alzheimer's."

Other sources: Ohio State University