title: Serum lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin, and the risk of Alzheimer's disease mortality in older adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Accumulating evidence shows that antioxidant-rich food reduces the risk of AD by inhibiting oxidative stress. This study investigates whether serum levels of carotenoids were associated with the risk of AD mortality in a nationally representative sample of US adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from the Third Nutrition and Health Examination Survey (NHANES III) database and the NHANES III Linked Mortality File. A total of 6,958 participants aged older than 50 years were included in this study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that high serum levels of lycopene and lutein+zeaxanthin at baseline were associated with a lower risk of AD mortality after adjustment for potential covariates. The reduction in the mortality risk was progressively raised by increasing serum lycopene (HR = 0.26, 95% CI 0.10-0.69) and lutein+zeaxanthin (HR = 0.43, 95% CI 0.22-0.85) levels. In contrast, no associations with AD mortality were observed for other serum carotenoids, including alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High serum levels of lycopene and lutein+zeaxanthin are associated with a lower risk of AD mortality in adults. Our findings suggest that a high intake of lycopene- or lutein+zeaxanthin-rich food may be important for reducing the AD mortality risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jin-young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Min
authors.forename: Kyoung-bok
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Min
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality*; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D014975:Lutein / Q000097:blood*; D000077276:Lycopene; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009749:Nutrition Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D012307:Risk Factors; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D065146:Zeaxanthins / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D065146:Zeaxanthins; D002338:Carotenoids; D000077276:Lycopene; D014975:Lutein