By David Liu and editing by Aimee Keenan-Green
A new study published online in the May 10, 2011 issue of Journal of Alzheimer's Disease suggests getting enough dietary vitamin C, known as ascorbic acid, may help prevent Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology and Kyoto University in Japan found Alzheimer's disease in mice given vitamin C solutions were subject to less oxidative brain damage and formation of Aβ oligomers.
Kazuma Murakamiand colleagues set out to test the effect of the antioxidant vitamin C because they knew that oxidative stress plays a role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. Reduced levels of antioxidants particularly vitamin C are associated with dementia in Alzheimer's disease patients.
For the study, Murakami et al. found 6-month treatment of vitamin C in Alzheimer's diseased mice mitigated formation of Soluble amyloid-β (Aβ) oligomers, which cause cognitive loss and synaptic dysfunction. Vitamin C also slowed behavioral decline in the Alzheimer's disease mouse model.
In the same AD mouse model, vitamin C was also found to decrease brain oxidative damage and improve a marker indicating the Alzheimer's disease progression, the ratio of soluble Aβ42 to Aβ40.
In addition, vitamin C was able to restore the already declined synaptophysin and the phosphorylation of tau at Ser396.
The dietary intake of vitamin C did not have an effect on brain plaque deposition though.
The researchers say "these results support that vitamin C is a useful functional food for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease."
"Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and eventually even the ability to carry out the simplest tasks, " says the U.S. National institute on Aging.
According to the U.S. health agency, there is no cure for Alzheimer's disease, which mostly affects people aged 60 or older. An estimated five millions of elderly Americans suffer the deadly disease.
Photo credit: wikipedia
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