Vitamin E health claim approval for Alzheimer's disease

Huge amounts of research have been published about vitamin E’s ability to maintain brain health and this would inevitably lead to an Article 13 ‘general function’ claim under the EU's Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation, said Professor Manfred Eggersdorfer, DSM’s senior vice president of nutrition science and advocacy.

“There are several strong studies about vitamin E and the effect it has on brain health​,” said Eggersdorfer. Studies, such as Professor Maurice Dysken’s ‘Effect of vitamin E and memantine on functional decline in Alzheimer’s disease’, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2014, provided compelling evidence to support a health claim, he said.

Deaths​

Deaths from dementia had risen by 52% since 1990 to 49,349 in 2013. The condition was now the third most common cause of death in the UK overtaking lung cancer according to figures from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013, published in The Lancet last month.

Dysken, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, claimed the onset of Alzheimer’s disease was delayed by six months in those who took a daily vitamin E supplement.

Vitamin E’s effects were assessed in a trial which also involved a placebo and the drug selegiline, which is also believed to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

“Vitamin E came out on top in the study,”​ Eggersdorfer reported. “A health claim could be the potential outcome of current studies.”​

Eggersdorfer would not reveal whether DSM was planning to submit a health claim dossier itself for approval to the European Food Safety Authority. However, despite vitamin E not yet having such approval, he said food and drink manufacturers should go ahead with fortifying foods with vitamin E to reduce the UK’s 60% deficiency in the vitamin.

Poor health ​

Vitamin E deficiency can increase fatty liver disease and encourage poor heart health. It may also be linked with an increased risk of miscarriage among pregnant women.

However, there are also risks for consuming too much vitamin E. Research by the US Cancer Research Centre in Seattle last year suggested that over consumption of vitamin E could increase the risk of prostate cancer by 17%.

“We need to encourage and engage in more research about vitamin E, its safety and its benefits,”​ said Eggersdorfer.

For more about research into the effects of vitamin E on cognitive health, as well as other food ingredients, health and nutrition news, visit our supplement website Food Ingredients, Health & Nutrition​.