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Oxidative stress is thought to play a role in the development of dementia, including Alzheimer disease. In a substudy of the Women’s Health Study, researchers assessed whether long-term supplementation with vitamin E (a potent antioxidant) reduced cognitive decline.
In a randomized, double-blind trial, 6377 women older than 65 received either placebo or 600 IU of vitamin E every other day. Cognition was assessed an average of 6, 8, and 10 years after randomization. At each assessment, a global score of cognitive function did not differ in the vitamin E and placebo groups, and the rate of cognitive decline was similar in the two groups. In secondary analyses, there were statistically significant reductions in cognitive decline in several subg…