And what if the issue here is not niacin at all, but rather the reduced wheat consumption in a maize-rice diet?


1: Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2003;12(4):447-50.

Retrospective study of preventive effect of maize on mortality from Parkinson's
disease in Japan.

Fukushima T, Tanaka K, Ushijima K, Moriyama M.

Department of Hygiene & Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Fukushima
Medical University, Fukushima, Japan. t-fuku@fmu.ac.jp

The findings of a negative association between past maize (Zea mays) production
and current Parkinson's disease mortality by each prefecture in Japan tends to
support the hypothesis that the nutritional condition that causes niacin
deficiency might protect people from Parkinson's disease. Specifically, the
negative association between both the area planted for dried corn in 1960, 1970
or 1977 and the area planted for sweet corn in 1960 and age-adjusted death rates
for Parkinson's disease is ecological evidence supporting the hypothesis.
Extending the analysis to other cultivated crops, even stronger negative
associations of age-adjusted death rates for Parkinson's disease and cultivation
of rice and soybeans were found, but associations were not significant for a
large variety of vegetables. The findings for soybean and rice are attributed to
the correspondence (co-linearity) of cultivation of these other two seed-crops
with maize. Hence, further testing of the theory of niacin deprivation and
prevention of Parkinson's disease finds some circumstantial support in the
cultivation patterns of a grain of poor niacin and tryptophan availability.


PMID: 14672869 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]