How gut health and lifestyle habits could prevent Parkinson’s disease

New research shows plant-based diets and exercise may reduce Parkinson’s risk.

By ALAN FREISHTAT NOVEMBER 21, 2024 04:39

PROF. ALON SAMACH of the Hebrew University’s Agriculture Faculty examines passion fruit plants at the campus greenhouse, in Rehovot, 2017. The faculty discovered that a species of the fruit can help cure Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. (photo credit: HADAS PARUSH/FLASH90)

As our population has aged over the last several decades, it has been accompanied by a marked increase in Parkinson’s disease (PD). The amount of increase is, however, so astounding that we have to wonder what else may be going on. While an aging population certainly can account for this increase, are there other factors playing into what has really become an epidemic? 

According to a paper published in 2018 by E. Ray Dorsey and his colleagues, “neurological disorders are now the leading source of disability globally, and the fastest growing neurological disorder in the world is Parkinson’s disease. From 1990 to 2015, the number of people with Parkinson’s disease doubled to over 6 million.” They also state that this number is projected to double again to more than 12 million by 2040.

Although there is no known way to reverse PD, we now know it is preventable in many cases. Because of the increasing prevalence of the disease, there is now a great deal of focus on why this is happening. That being said, there was a landmark study released this past April that gives us tremendous insight into what may be the underlying cause of the disease and, in turn, gives us a good look into how to prevent it. Another study from Harvard, also released this year, came to a similar conclusion.

Let’s look at the Harvard study first. Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition it states, “Dietary patterns with a high intake of fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, fish, and poultry and a low intake of saturated fat and a moderate intake of alcohol may protect against PD. Benefits of a plant-based dietary pattern including fish to PD merit further investigation.” That said, it is the other study which I find even more fascinating and gives us a good reason for optimism, both on the prevention front and also on slowing down the progression of the disease and potentially reducing the severity of symptoms.

This second study, related to microbiome health and its effect on PD, appeared in the medical journal Nature. First, a word about our microbiome. As Harvard Health describes it, picture a bustling city on a weekday morning, the sidewalks flooded with people rushing to get to work or to appointments. They are all walking in different directions and no one looks exactly like the other person. 

Fruits and vegetables (credit: INGIMAGE)

Microbiomes in our bodies

Now imagine this at a microscopic level and you have an idea of what the microbiome looks like inside our bodies, consisting of trillions of microorganisms of thousands of different species. These are made up of bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. In a healthy person, these “bugs” coexist peacefully, with the largest numbers found in the small and large intestines but also throughout the body. The microbiome is even labeled a supporting organ because it plays so many key roles in promoting the smooth daily operations of the human body. It has an influence on virtually every area of health.

RESEARCH OVER that last two decades has shown us just how pronounced this influence is. Without spending time on the exact mechanisms on how the microbiome works, it is important to know that the gut microbiome has great influence on all systems in our body and in particular, our brains. (This is a result of what is known as the gut-brain axis.) Barely a week goes by these days without research disclosing just how influential our gut microbiome is on our brain health. For example, after decades of thinking that most of our neural connectors and brain specific hormones were made in the brain, we now know that most of them come from the gut and work their way up to the brain through the vagus nerve and other means. 

Two things to keep in mind for the purpose of disease prevention and possible reversal: 1) You can change the makeup of your microbiome through your lifestyle habits and 2) the influence of your gut health on the brain is indeed pronounced.

Looking at the study in Nature, we see that in PD patients, there is a lot of dysbiosis in the gut. In simple terms, there are too many types of inflammatory microbes and not enough anti-inflammatory microbes. This imbalance is often the catalyst for disease. With this connection firmly established, and knowing that we can control our gut health with good lifestyle habits, we can reduce the likelihood of disease in general and certainly PD.

ALL OF this information is supported by yet another study, published in Movement Disorders. This medical journal concludes that higher adherence to a healthy plant-based diet is linked with significantly lower risks of Parkinson’s disease. The study also investigated the impact of unhealthy plant-based eating patterns, finding that diets with more refined grains and sugar-sweetened beverages increased risk of the disease.

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Interviewed by the organization Forks over Knives, study author Aedin Cassidy, PhD, stated that, “We showed, for the first time, that eating a dietary pattern high in healthy plant-based foods reduced the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease by 22 percent.” Simple changes to the diet, including increasing the intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and tea, may reduce the risk of developing Parkinson’s. To date, there is no cure for PD, so strategies for prevention and reducing risk are especially important.

But there is more to it than diet. Exercise seems to be a key component in both prevention and in greatly slowing the progression of the disease. The Parkinson’s Outcomes Project shows that people with PD who start exercising earlier in their disease for a minimum of 2.5 hours per week experience a slower decline in quality of life compared to those who start later – and more might be better. Establishing early exercise habits is essential to overall disease management. Exercise is also microbiome friendly, so it seems that by putting a plant predominant diet and exercise together, the odds of not getting PD should greatly improve.

We now know with some certainly that Parkinson’s disease is somewhat preventable and that its symptoms can be managed well with a combination of intense exercise along with a diet high in a variety of plants and low in saturated fats. This combination has been working well to prevent and reverse many diseases; let’s hope that these initial findings regarding PD will give us another area in health where you can “add hours to your days, days to your years, and years to your lives.”

The writer is a member of the International Council of the True Health Initiative and on the board of Kosher Plant Based. He is a certified plant-based nutritionist and personal trainer experienced in wellness coaching: www.alanfitness.com