Resource Roundup: Integrative Interventions for Preventing Alzheimer's Disease

Key Nutrient Deficiencies Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease Development

The burden of Alzheimer's disease is staggering. From an economic perspective, healthcare costs are estimated at more than $170 billion per year just in the United States. Worldwide dementia is as high as 24 million, and it's expected to grow four times higher by the year 2050.

While various models of pathogenesis exist, indicating a multifactorial process, the present theories associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease link oxidative damage to disease progression. Because of this, a recent study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease looked at antioxidant levels, specifically carotenoids and tocopherols. The study featured samples of donor brains with confirmed Alzheimer’s disease and compared them to healthy elderly donor brains. The researchers found that there were substantially lower concentration levels of lutein, zeaxanthin, retinol, lycopene, and alpha-tocopherol compared to healthy brain tissue. The two most deficient antioxidants were lycopene and zeaxanthin.

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