A. One recent study did show a small benefit for vitamin E supplementation in slowing the progression of patients who already had mild or moderate Alzheimers (see the April 2014 newsletter). But thats not the case for preventing Alzheimers. Tammy Scott, PhD, a scientist at Tufts HNRCA Nutrition and Neurocognition Laboratory, says, Results from previous studies of vitamin E supplementation in healthy adults did not show a benefit to cognitive function or a reduction of cognitive decline.
Its true that two studies published in JAMA in 2002 found that high intake of vitamin E was associated with lower risk of developing Alzheimers. But both those studies saw a benefit only from dietary intake. One of the studies also looked at vitamin E supplementation and reported no significant association with Alzheimers risk.
According to the Office of Dietary Supplements of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), So far, the research provides little evidence that taking vitamin E supplements can help healthy people or people with mild mental functioning problems to maintain brain health.
Vitamin E deficiency is very rare in healthy people, so its unlikely you need supplements to insure adequate intake. Besides the possibility of increased prostate-cancer risk, the NIH warns that high-dose supplements of vitamin E might increase the risk of bleeding by reducing the bloods ability to form clots after a cut or injury and of serious bleeding in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke).