Treating Parkinson’s Disease With Diet
Plant-based diets in general and certain plant foods in particular may be used to successfully treat Parkinson’s disease in part by boosting L-DOPA levels.
Topics
Supplementary Info
Treating Parkinson’s Disease With Diet,
Sources Cited
N. Palacios, X. Gao, M. L. McCullough, M. A. Schwarzschild, R. Shah, S. Gapstur, A. Ascherio. Caffeine and risk of Parkinson's disease in a large cohort of men and women. Mov. Disord. 2012 27(10):1276 - 1282
R. B. Postuma, A. E. Lang, R. P. Munhoz, K. Charland, A. Pelletier, M. Moscovich, L. Filla, D. Zanatta, S. R. Romenets, R. Altman, R. Chuang, B. Shah. Caffeine for treatment of Parkinson disease: A randomized controlled trial. Neurology 2012 79(7):651 - 658
V. V. Renoudet, P. Costa-Mallen, E. Hopkins. A diet low in animal fat and rich in N-hexacosanol and fisetin is effective in reducing symptoms of Parkinson's disease. J Med Food 2012 15(8):758 - 761
L. Baroni, C. Bonetto, F. Tessan, D. Goldin, L. Cenci, P. Magnanini, G. Zuliani. Pilot dietary study with normoproteic protein-redistributed plant-food diet and motor performance in patients with Parkinson's disease. Nutr Neurosci 2011 14(1):1 - 9
J. H. Pincus, K. M. Barry. Plasma levels of amino acids correlate with motor fluctuations in parkinsonism. Arch. Neurol. 1987 44(10):1006 - 1009
X. Gao, A. Cassidy, M. A. Schwarzschild, E. B. Rimm, A. Ascherio. Habitual intake of dietary flavonoids and risk of Parkinson disease. Neurology 2012 78(15):1138 - 1145
Astarloa R, Mena MA, Sánchez V, de la Vega L, de Yébenes JG. Clinical and pharmacokinetic effects of a diet rich in insoluble fiber on Parkinson disease. Clin Neuropharmacol. 1992 Oct;15(5):375-80.
Bracco F, Malesani R, Saladini M, Battistin L. Protein redistribution diet and antiparkinsonian response to levodopa. Eur Neurol. 1991;31(2):68-71.
T. Bobby, M. F. Beal. Molecular insights into Parkinson's disease. F1000 Med Rep. 2011; 3: 7.
Acknowledgements
Images thanks to Stirling Noyes and Elvert Barnes
Transcript
Caffeine consumption, both in Asian and Western populations, appears to protect against development of Parkinson's, but what if you already have it. A new study found that giving folks the equivalent of about two cups of coffee a day worth of caffeine significantly improved symptoms of the disease. Of course, there's only so much you can charge for coffee, so drug companies took caffeine and added a few side groups so they could patent it into new drugs ("Preladenant" " Istradefylline"), which appear to work no better than plain caffeine, which is dramatically cheaper and probably safer. Similarly, certain plants, such as berries, and plant-based diets in general may help prevent Parkinson's—whether because of the animal fat or animal protein or the dairy or the mercury or less of the protective anitoxidants, but again, what if you already have it. We had no idea, until recently. There have been successful case reports. Like this one, in which a dietician was struck down with Parkinson’s and she was able to clear most of her symptoms with a plant-based diet rich in strawberries, whole wheat, and brown rice, rich sources of these two phytonutrients. But there hasn't been a formal interventional trial published, until now. At its root, Parkinson's is a dopamine deficiency disease, because of a die-off of dopamine-generating cells in the brain. These cells make dopamine from L-dopa derived from an amino acid in our diet, but just like we saw with the serotonin story, the consumption of animal products blocks with the transport of L-dopa into the brain, crowding it out. So at first researchers tried what's called a protein redistribution diet. Let's basically only let people eat meat for supper, then when patients are hopefully sleeping by the time the negative effects hit. But researchers didn't consider trying cutting out all animal products altogether until it was discovered that fiber consumption naturally boosts L-dopa levels, so hey, " a plant-based diet, particularly in its vegan variant, is expected to raise levodopa bioavailability and bring some advantages in the management of the disease through two mechanisms: a reduced protein intake and an increased fiber. That's why plant protein is the best, because that's where fiber is found. So they put folks on a strictly vegan diet, keeping beans towards the end of the day and indeed found a significant improvement in symptoms.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Jonathan Hodgson.
To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org
Doctor's Note
What about preventing the disease in the first place? See the previous video Preventing Parkinson's Disease With Diet.
The serotonin story I mentioned explaining the crowding out of precursor amino acids at the blood-brain barrier is described in my three-part series The Wrong Way to Boost Serotonin, A Better Way to Boost Serotonin, and The Best Way to Boost Serotonin.
More on the risks and benefits of coffee and caffeine in Coffee and Cancer and What About the Caffeine?
And more on what fiber can do for us in videos like:
- How Fiber Lowers Cholesterol
- Fawning Over Flora
- Boosting Good Bacteria in the Colon Without Probiotics
- What Women Should Eat to Live Longer
If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my videos for free by clicking here.
-
cobalamin
-
ruth
-
Southlander
-
Veganrunner
-
Thea
-
snowhawk
-
http://HumanExcellence.com/ JD Mumma
-
Jackie
-
suzzy
-
http://www.facebook.com/rusti.hauge Rusti T Hauge
Next Video
-
Herbal Tea Update: Hibiscus
Hibiscus tea elevates the antioxidant level of one's bloodstream within an hour of consumption.
Watch Now
Previous Video
-
Preventing Parkinson's Disease With Diet
Low levels of neurotoxic chemicals in cheese may explain the connection between dairy product consumption and Parkinson's disease.
Watch Now
Related Reading
-
Saffron vs. Prozac for DepressionMillions of Americans suffer from depression every year, a disabling disease that can end up fatal (due.. -
Cantaloupe and Listeria: an estimated 85% of cases are from deli meats, not melonsMore than a dozen deaths have been reported in the national outbreak of listeriosis linked to.. -
How To Reduce Dietary Antibiotic IntakeRecently the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention commemorated “Get Smart About Antibiotics.. -
How Does Meat Cause Inflammation?The anti-inflammatory effect of plant-based diets is about more than just the power of plants. It’s.. -
Dietary Guideline Graphics: From the Food Pyramid to My Plate, Harvard’s Healthy Eating Plate, and PCRM’s Power PlateIn last week’s New England Journal of Medicine, Walter Willett, chair of the Department of..