Science / Medicine : Vitamins’ Role in Parkinson’s

People in early stages of Parkinson’s disease who took Vitamins E and C showed slower progression of the disease than other patients, suggesting a possible lead for treatment, a researcher said last week. The 14 patients were able to delay starting standard treatment for 2 1/2 years longer than other patients, Stanley Fahn said.

Stressing that the results are preliminary, Fahn said researchers at 28 institutions have signed up 800 patients for a $10-million federally financed study of the approach.

Fahn, director of parkinsonism and movement disorder research at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, spoke at a conference on Vitamin E sponsored by the New York Academy of Sciences.

Parkinson’s disease, often characterized by tremors, rigidity or loss of balance, afflicts 350,000 or more Americans. The disease is caused by death of brain cells that produce dopamine, which the cells use to communicate. Why the cells die is not known. Fahn said his experiment was based on a hypothesis that the cells are harmed by highly reactive chemicals, called free radicals, which the cells themselves create.

The disease progressed more slowly in the 14 patients who took high doses of the vitamins than in a group of patients observed in Chicago who did not get the vitamin treatment, he said.