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Low plasma vitamin C in Alzheimer patients despite an adequate diet
Stéphanie Rivière, Inès
Birlouez-Aragon, Fatemeh Nourhashémi, Bruno Vellas
Hôpital La Grave-Casselar,
Pavillon J-P Jounod, 170 av Casselardit, 31300 Toulouse, France,
Institut National Agronomique, Laboratoire de Chimie
Analytique, Paris, France
email: Inès Birlouez-Aragon (BirlouezIE@aol.com.)
Correspondence to Inès Birlouez-Aragon,
Institut National Agronomique, Laboratoire de Chimie Analytique, 16
rue Claude Bernard, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France. Tel: (33)
01-44-08-16-49. Fax: (33) 01-44-08-16-53.
International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry,
Volume 13,
Issue 11 , Pages 749 - 754
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Objective.
To compare the
vitamin C and E
plasma levels in
patients with
Alzheimer's
disease (AD) and
to assess the
vitamin C intake
and nutritional
status. |
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Design.
Case-control
study. Four
groups of sex-
and age-matched
subjects were
compared: severe
AD and moderate
AD, in patients
with moderate AD
and controls. |
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Setting.
Community and
hospitalized
patients in the
region of
Toulouse,
France. |
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Participants.
Patients with
dementia who
fulfilled
criteria for
Alzheimer's
disease: severe
Alzheimer group
(N=20),
Mini-Mental
State
Examination (MMSE)
score range 0-9;
moderate
Alzheimer group
(N=24),
MMSE 10-23;
hospitalized
Alzheimer group
(N=9),
MMSE 10-23.
Control group (N=19),
MMSE 24-30. |
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Measures.
Plasma vitamin E
and C were
quantified by
HPLC-fluorescence.
Consumption of
raw and cooked
fruit and
vegetables was
evaluated in
order to
determine the
mean vitamin C
intakes. Mini
Nutritional
Assessment (MNA)
and plasma
albumin were
used to measure
nutritional
status. |
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Results.
Institutionalized
and community
subjects were
analysed
separately. MNA
scores were
normal in
home-living
Alzheimer
subjects with
moderate
dementia and
significantly
lower in those
with severe
disease, despite
normal plasma
albumin levels.
In the
home-living
Alzheimer
subjects,
vitamin C plasma
levels decreased
in proportion to
the severity of
the cognitive
impairment
despite similar
vitamin C
intakes, whereas
vitamin E
remained stable.
The hospitalized
Alzheimer
subjects had
lower MNA scores
and albumin
levels but
normal vitamin C
intakes, but
their plasma
vitamin C was
lower than that
of
community-living
subjects.
Institutionalized
Alzheimer
subjects had
significantly
lower MNA scores
but normal
vitamin C and
albumin levels
and vitamin C
intakes compared
with
community-dwelling
subjects of
similar degree
of cognitive
impairment. |
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Conclusion.
Plasma vitamin C
is lower in AD
in proportion to
the degree of
cognitive
impairment and
is not explained
by lower vitamin
C intake. These
results support
the hypothesis
that oxygen-free
radicals may
cause damage.
Copyright © 1998
John Wiley &
Sons, Ltd. |
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