Biochemical and clinical effects of an antioxidative supplementation of geriatric patients. A double blind study

Ninety seven geriatric patients from two Danish homes for old people accepted to participate in a blinded experiment designed to counteract ageing phenomena. The subjects were split into two groups, i.e., the verum and the placebo group. The verum group received daily for one year an antioxidative cocktail consisting of: 300 micrograms selenium as L-selenomethionine, 45 mg zinc, 270 mg vitamin C, 2.7 mg vitamin A, 6 mg vitamin B-6, and 465 mg vitamin E (d-alfatocopherol). Furthermore, in order to enhance exchange in polyenoic acids, each subject received daily 250 mg gamma-linolenic acid. The placebo groups received similar looking pills and capsules without the active components. During one year in the verum group, the whole blood selenium, the hydrogen-dependent glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) of erythrocytes, and the vitamin E level in serum was found increased compared to the pretreatment values and to the placebo group. No change could be traced in the t-butylhydroperoxide dependent GSH-Px, an enzyme that also assays the glutathione-s-transferase. During the same period of time, the fasting levels of serum fatty acids and the content of lipofuscin in erythrocytes were estimated. Compared to the pretreatment values, the lipofuscin level declined significantly and the level of w-3 penta- and hexaenoic acids increased in the verum, but not in the placebo group. During the study period, slight, but significant improvements in psychological scores could be traced. Furthermore, the assays of bloodflow in different areas of the brain surface (i.e., the ISI values) revealed a general trend to improvement in all areas, when the ISI values were compared during treatment with the pretreatment values and the values in the placebo group.