Case-control study of nutritional antioxidant intake in essential tremor

The theory that oxidative stress is involved in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases has received considerable attention and studies have linked these diseases to the diminished use of antioxidant vitamins (vitamins E and C) and other dietary antioxidants. Essential tremor (ET) is a chronic, progressive disease. One possible disease mechanism is neurodegenerative. Whether nutritional antioxidant use differs between ET cases and controls is not known. Using a case-control design, we conducted detailed dietary assessments and tested the hypothesis that diminished use of nutritional antioxidants is associated with ET. Data on diet were collected on 156 ET cases and 220 controls using a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire. There was no evidence that current nutritional antioxidant exposure differs in ET cases and controls. This does not exclude the possibility that nutritional antioxidant exposure was lower in ET cases prior to their disease onset.