Some findings I believe have to be connected somehow to PD, come on, Rick, Ron, RLS, I know you have to have an opinion about these!

1. mitochondria has three basic functions:

make ATP
clear toxins
give cell death signal*

2. in making ATP, free radicals are naturally produced. In healthy cells, they are naturally and quickly cleared away by antioxidants (so called beause they keep the free radicals from oxidizing whatever they attach to)...but in cells that lack enough antioxidants, they cannot be cleared away and stick around wreaking havoc, making the cell sicker and weaker and less able to make ATP which is why one may feel so fatigued.

3. weakened mitochondria can make only around 2-4 molecules of ATP: healthy ones can make 38. The more ATP you have, the more energy and endurance you have.

4. it may not be the intake of sugar so much, as it is the insulin levels that are required to respond to it. The brain makes its own insulin, that is how important it is. So when the body gets a rush of sugar, the cells go into overdrive. If this happens often enough, and it does, just try to find a processed food that does not have high fructose corn syrup in it!, the body builds up insulin resistance and the path to diabetes is established, both in body and brain. I have seen the connection between PD and diabetes, as well as Alz. Additionally, it is well documented that people with Alz. and very advanced PD actually crave high sugar foods and usually will eat little else, even people who never before dx had craved sugary foods. Something has messed up that insulin balance and the brain is the victim.

*the cell death signal consists of the mitochondria signalling the cell that it is time to die, at which point the cell opens up and allows a flood of calcium to enter the cell, and the cell then dies. This is why calcium channel blockers may seem to slow progression, because they are delaying cell death...but what I think is really happening is that they are forcing an unhealthy cell that would otherwise be purged to continue to function weakly and sickly, which may very well make adjoining cells worse off. I don't know that, just thinking that if the body's natural response to a sick cell is to "prune" it out, keeping that sick cell in the body is probably not a good thing.

What this means to me is that like Dr. Wahls, radically changing our diet may well affect progression or even better, very gradually reduce symptoms. As the cells begin to get what they really need, as she calls it, micronutrients, they begin to function better, clear away toxins and free radicals better and more completely, are able to gradually make more energy, etc.