NOTE: No one should ever try anything based on some random comments on the internet. Do your own research and talk to your doctor before trying anything.

So . . .

Reviving an old thread because I believe people should take a closer look at this molecule.

First a brief introduction: My name is Joe Peck. I'm 51 years old, a loving husband and father of 3. I'm not a doctor, but I am scientifically trained and graduated Dartmouth College with Honors. Not bragging as I am keenly aware that there are many smart people on this forum, just trying to say I'm not some internet quack. I have Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 1 as does my father and my aunt who are 80 and 74 respectively. SCA1 is similar to PD because one major underlying element to the disease pathology is a misfolded protein. In PD there is alph-syn and in SCA1 there is ATXN1. The progression is similar gait trouble, speech trouble, hand writing issues, etc. Sadly SCA1 progresses faster and is always fatal.

Now, having said that my reason for writing is to share my experiences with trehalose and mannitol. One year ago I started my father and my aunt on a regimen of 2 Tbs of trehalose daily in coffee. Both my father and my aunt have had zero progression in their disease over the course of the year. Now before I go any further I want to add that they are also taking 500 mg twice daily of Niagen, but that is for another discussion. In addition, I am active on several websites around the world and now have convinced more than a dozen people to try taking trehalose and/or niagen. Of the people that have kept in touch about 1/3 are reporting a stopping of progression.

My main point here is simply to say: When a patient with PD takes mannitol they may very likely see no improvement because IF the molecule is doing what scientists think it is doing then it can only stop progression. It really can't repair damage that has already occured. That is why people in the early stages of PD are far more likely to benefit from mannitol than are people in later stages,

BUT

and here is the big but . . . Mannitol is 1.6 calories per gram and is a long used food additive with no history of danger to humans. Isn't it worth eating 16 calories of a sugar substitute everyday for the rest of your life just in case MAYBE it's slowing the progression of your illness. To me the benefits vastly outweigh any risks. Most importantly I want to emphasize that my point is most PD patients will probably not experience any improvements from mannitol, but that doesn't mean it isn't slowing down the progression, and if it is simply slowing the progression really you will never know because we simply don't have anyway to test for that.