Alzheimer’s disease linked with low levels of vitamin E tocotrienols and tocopherols, study says

21 May 2019 --- A study has found that people with Alzheimer’s disease showed significantly lower plasmatic concentration of total tocopherols, total tocotrienols and total vitamin E (full-spectrum vitamin E consisting of all eight isoforms) compared to cognitively healthy subjects. The researchers also measured the leukocyte telomere length (LTL), which has been known to be associated with cognitive decline as well as decline in LTL with aging. The study showed the LTL is shorter in Alzheimer subjects and also that excessive nitrosylation of γ-tocopherol influences the risk of developing Alzheimer’s only in those individuals with preserved telomere length (i.e., biologically younger).

The study involved 53 people with overt Alzheimer’s disease and 40 cognitively healthy people at the Geriatric Unit of the Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico in Milan, Italy. None of the participants were receiving vitamin E supplementation. 

The levels of all the eight different isoforms of vitamin E in the plasma were measured following at least six hours of fasting. The researchers also suggest that LTL is a potential biomarker of cognitive function and Alzheimer’s disease.

The association between vitamin E complete (tocopherols and tocotrienols) and Alzheimer’s disease has been confirmed in a recent human study published in the journal Aging Clinical and Experimental Research. 

The results of this latest study supported and confirmed another four large epidemiological studies previously conducted by the AddNeuroMed Consortium, across European, public/private consortium formed to discover novel biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease. 

These four studies showed that vitamin E complete (full-spectrum vitamin E consisting of d-mixed tocotrienols and d-mixed tocopherols) reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s in elderly Europeans, with tocotrienols being more potent than tocopherols in preventing Alzheimer’s. When compared to cognitively normal people, Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects demonstrated significantly lower levels of total tocotrienols, total tocopherols and total vitamin E.

Taken together in totality, all these five published studies, conclusively provided evidence that low plasma tocotrienols and tocopherols (full spectrum vitamin E) are strongly linked to higher incidence of Alzheimer’s and MCI, notes ExcelVite, which was incorporated in Malaysia in 2013 and is the largest producer of natural full-spectrum tocotrienol/tocopherol complex (EVNol, and EVNol SupraBio).

Company Business Development Manager Bryan See says it is challenging to obtain sufficiently high level of the full-spectrum vitamin E from the daily diet, particularly tocotrienols. “As such, it is recommended to take Vitamin E complete (d-mixed tocopherols and d-mixed tocotrienols) or Full Spectrum Tocotrienol Complex through dietary supplementation,” he says. 

“We now know that each and every vitamin E form, tocopherols and tocotrienols, are required for preserving cognitive functions, especially in the elderly. Subjects with MCI and Alzheimer’s have very low tocopherols and tocotrienol levels and thus further strengthening the association of full-spectrum vitamin E with cognitive health,” adds WH Leong, CEO, ExcelVite.

The company also stresses that as more and more studies reveal the importance of taking a full-spectrum vitamin E (d-mixed tocotrienols and d-mixed tocopherols), the evidence from these published studies cannot be dismissed. They have shown that both tocotrienols and tocopherols complement each other to confer synergistic as well as beneficial health effects.

Last October, another study identified the importance of different forms of vitamin E – such as gamma-tocopherol and tocotrienols – over alpha-tocopherol alone. The findings showed the potential benefits of formulating a vitamin E complete range over common vitamin E supplements that focus solely on alpha-tocopherol.