Alzheimer's patients have significantly lower blood levels of 8 out of 10 antioxidants investigated,

though of course this could just be a consequence of demented individuals eating diets poor in fruits and vegetables.

When put to the test, the pre-advised study found no benefit for vitamin E or selenium

in terms of preventing dementia.

What about other antioxidants?

In the Harvard Physicians' Health Study, nearly 6,000 older men were randomized in beta-carotene

or placebo.

No difference was found after three years, but after 11 years, those unknowingly taking

the equivalent of a three-quarter cup of sweet potato worth of beta-carotene a day had slightly

yet significantly better overall cognitive performance.

A similar study of older women found no cognitive benefit over a period of nine years.

Maybe they just didn't wait long enough. Vitamin E and C were also tested. Vitamin E similarly flopped

throughout, and so did vitamin C up until the last cognitive assessment at around year nine,

where the vitamin C group appeared

to pull ahead. However, two trials of a combination of vitamin C, E, and beta-carotene together

versus placebo, one randomizing 1,500 older patients for seven years, and another truly massive

one, randomizing more than 20,000 adults for five years,

both failed to show any cognitive benefit for the antioxidant cocktail.

What about a multivitamin?

The physician's health study also tested taking the daily multivitamin, multi-mineral

supplement Centrum Silver, for 12 years. Compared to those instead

randomized to placebo, the Centrum Group experienced no cognitive benefit. Suvenate is a nutritional

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