SynthesisFrontiers in nutrition2026
Efficacy of antioxidants as a therapy for Alzheimer's disease: a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Frontiers in nutrition, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Oxidative stress plays a central role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), contributing to neuronal damage, amyloid-beta aggregation, tau hyperphosphorylation, and neuroinflammation. Although antioxidants have been proposed as potential therapeutic agents, clinical trials have yielded inconsistent results. Objective: To systematically evaluate the efficacy of various antioxidants-including vitamins, polyphenols, and other antioxidant preparations-on cognitive function, oxidative stress biomarkers, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and disease progression in patients with AD. Methods: We conducted a systematic search of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science from inception to October 2, 2025, for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating antioxidant interventions in AD patients. Study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment were performed independently by multiple reviewers. Meta-analyses were conducted using random-effects models where significant heterogeneity was present (I Results: A total of 23 RCTs comprising 10,537 participants were included. Antioxidants showed mixed effects across outcomes. While certain oxidative stress markers (urinary 8-iso-prostaglandin F2α: SMD 0.75, 95% CI 0.12-1.38) and neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPI: SMD -0.85, 95% CI -1.13 to -0.57) improved significantly, core cognitive endpoints such as ADAS-Cog (SMD 0.01, 95% CI -0.21 to 0.23) and MMSE (SMD 0.19, 95% CI -0.17 to 0.56) showed no significant benefit. Fluid biomarkers including Aβ42, p-tau, and t-tau remained unchanged. High heterogeneity was observed across multiple outcomes, reflecting variability in antioxidant types, dosages, and patient populations. Conclusion: Antioxidants may improve certain oxidative stress markers and neuropsychiatric symptoms in AD patients but do not consistently enhance core cognitive function or alter AD-specific pathology. Current evidence does not support antioxidants as disease-modifying therapies, though they may serve as adjunctive interventions to improve quality of life and behavioral symptoms. Well-designed RCTs with longer follow-up and standardized protocols are warranted. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD420261321660, identifier: CRD420261321660.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.