nacking on nuts, seeds 'could keep Alzheimer's at bay'

Updated at: 0853 PST, Wednesday, July 07, 2010 STOCKHOLM: Snacking on nuts could help keep the mind sharp into old age, research suggests. A study has credited vitamin E - found in nuts, seeds and olive oil - with warding off Alzheimer's. Pensioners with the highest amounts of the 'anti-ageing' vitamin in their blood were around half as likely to develop the devastating disease as those with the least vitamin E in their bodies. The finding suggests that nuts and oils could provide a cheap and tasty way of keeping the mind healthy as the years advance. Alzheimer's affects some 400,000 Britons and around 500 new cases are diagnosed every day. The Swedish researchers measured vitamin E in samples of blood taken from 232 men and women. All were aged 80 or older at the start of the study and free of dementia. After six years, 57 had developed Alzheimer's, the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease reports. However, the disease was around half as common in those boasting the most vitamin E at the start of the study. Previous research into the subject has produced conflicting results but the researchers believe this could be because it mainly focused on one sub-type of vitamin E, rather than looking at it as a whole.