Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
259-262
0 2001 International PsychogeriatricAssociation
Guest Editorial
Dietarv Antioxidants and Dementia
J
259
260 C. R. Gale
the longitudinal Honolulu-Asia Aging Bums, A., Marsh, A., & Bender, D. A. (1989).
Study. Here, men who had reported tak- Dietary intake and clinical, anthropomet-
ing both vitamin E and vitamin C supple- ric andbiochemicalindices of malnutrition
ments were significantly less likely to in elderly demented patients and non-
develop VaD during the follow-up peri- demented subjects. Psychological Medicine,
29,383-391.
od (odds ratio 0.12,95% confidence inter-
Christen, Y. (2000). Oxidative stress and
val 0.02-0.88), though risk of AD was not Alzheimer disease. American Journal of
reduced (Masaki et al., 2000). Whether Clinical Nutrition, 72, 621s-629s.
the reduction in risk seen in the men De Leo, M. E., Borrello, S., Passantino, M.,
taking supplements was due to the vita- Palazzotti, B., Mordente, A., et al. (1998).
mins themselves or merely a reflection of Oxidative stress and overexpression of
the distinctive characteristics of supple- manganese superoxide dismutase in
ment users is not clear (Lyle et al., 1998). patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Neuro-
As yet there are no data from random- science Letters, 250, 173-176.
ized controlled trials on the effect of den Heijer, T., Launer, L. J., de Groot, J. C., de
antioxidant vitamins in preventing de- Leeuw, F. E., Oudkerk, M., et al. (2001).
mentia. There is some evidence from a Serum carotenoids and cerebral white
matter lesions: The Rotterdam scan study.
trial of vitamin E and selegiline in pa-
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 49,
tients with AD that vitamin E may delay 642-646.
the progression of the disease, as mea- Engelhart, M. J.,Ruitenberg, A.,Sweieten, J. C.,
sured by time to institutionalization, loss Witteman, J. C. M., Hofman, A., et al.
of ability to perform basic activities of (2000). Dietary anti-oxidants and the risk
daily life, or death, but it did not affect of dementia. The Rotterdam Study (ab-
cognitive function (Sano et al., 1997). stract). Neurobiology of Agzng, 22 (Suppl. l),
Until more data are available from ran- S203.
domized controlled trials, the uncertain- Foy,C. J.,Passmore,A. P.,Vahidassr,M.D.,Young,
ties about the usefulness of antioxidant I. S., & Lawson, J. T. (1999). Plasma chain-
vitamins in the prevention or treatment breaking antioxidantsin Alzheimer’s disease,
of dementia are unlikely to be resolved. vascular dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
Quartuly Journal@Medicine, 92,3945.
Jama, W. J., Launer, L. J., Witteman, J. C. M.,
Catharine R. Gale, PhD
den Breeijn, H., Breteler, M. M. B., et al.
MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit (1996).Dietary antioxidants and cognitive
Southampton General Hospital function in a population-based sample of
Southampton, UK older persons: The Rotterdam study. Ameri-
can Journal of Epidemiology, 244,275-280.
Kalmijn, S., Feskens, E. J. M., Launer, J. L., &
REFERENCES Kromhout, D. (1997). Polyunsaturated
fatty acids, antioxidants and cognitive
Beckman, K. B., & Ames, B. N. (1998).The free function in very old men. American Journal
radical theory of aging matures. Physi- of Epidemiology, 145,33-41.
ological Reviews, 78,547-581. Lyle, B. J., Mares-Perlman, J. A., Klein, B. E.,
Brookmeyer, R., &Gray, S. (2000).Methods for Klein, R., & Greger, J. L. (1998). Supple-
projecting the incidence and prevalence of ment users differ from non-users in
chronic diseases in aging populations: demographic, lifestyle, dietary and health
Application to Alzheimer’s disease. Statis- characteristics. Journal of Nutrition, 128,
tics in Medicine, 29, 1481-1493. 2355-2362.
262 C. R. Gale
Markesbery, W. R., & Carney, J. M. (1999). Pratico, D., Clark, C. M., Lee, V. M.,
Oxidative alterations in Alzheimer‘s dis- Trojanowski, J. Q., Rokach, J., et al. (2000).
ease. Brain Pathology, 9, 133-146. Increased 8,12,-iso-iPF2alpha-V1 in
Masaki, K. H., Losonczy, K. G., Izmirlian, G., Alzheimer’s disease: Correlation of a
Foley, D. J., ROSS, G. W., et al. (2000). noninvasive index of lipid peroxidation
Association of vitamin E and C supple- with disease severity. Annals of Neurology,
ment use with cognitive function and 48,809-812.
dementia in elderly men. Neurology, 54, Sano, M., Emesto, C., Thomas, R. G., Klauber,
1265-1272.
M. R., Schafer,K.,et al. (1997).Acontrolled
McGrath, L. T., McGleenon, B. M., Brennan, S.,
trial of selegiline, alpha-tocopherol, or
McColl, D., McIlroy, S., et al. (2001).
Increased oxidative stress in Alzheimer’s both as treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
disease as assessed with 4-h ydroxynonenal The Alzheimer‘s Disease Cooperative
but not malondialdehyde. Quarterly Jour- Study. New England Journal of Medicine,
nal of Medicine, 94,485-490. 336,1216-1222.
Perkins, A. J., Hendrie, H. C., Callahan, C. M., Witztum, J. L. (1994).The oxidationhypothesis
Gao, S., Unverszagt, F. W., et al. (1999). of atherosclerosis. Lancet, 344,793-795.
Association of antioxidants with memory Zaman, Z., Roche, S., Fielden, P., Frost, P. G.,
in a multiethnic elderly sample using the Niriella, D. C., et al. (1992). Plasma
Third National Health and Nutrition Ex- concentrations of vitamin A and E and
amination Survey. American Journal of carotenoids in Alzheimer’s disease. Age
Epidemiology, 150,37-44. and Ageing, 21, 91-94.