Not to hijack Laura's thread on light therapy, but she mentioned the pineal gland. A quick search on the pineal gland reveals that it is highly susceptible to flouride accumulation....in almost all public water supplies in the US.

Here's a youtube video about this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSZQ3ixu7a4

and an article discussing the researcher discovering the relationship between flouride and the pineal gland:

http://www.fluoridealert.org/issues/.../pineal-gland/

There are many articles about how to "clean up" your pineal gland so I won't post all those links here.

Just wanted to note that as Rick has pointed out the importance of the Industrial Revolution, perhaps we should also be looking at the PD rate when our water supplies began being flouridated. BTW, many cities, including the very first city in the US to flouridate its public water supply, are now seeking to de-flouridate them. We are finally realizing what a horrendous idea that is.

Also the one of the more intriguing things about the pineal theory is that its is the first I have encountered that brings together several disparate theories on PD and even addresses some its unsolved mysteries like why only pigmented neurons are impacted. It all comes down to iron dysregulation. I wonder if there is a link to fluoride consumption?

This article is tough to read but it does back what is suggested by the title.

Towards a unifying, systems biology understanding of large-scale cellular death and destruction caused by poorly liganded iron: Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s, prions, bactericides, chemical toxicology and others as examples

Impairment of interrelated iron- and copper homeostatic mechanisms in brain contributes to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders.

As well, iodine is critical to pineal gland health and bromide is bad....decades ago, breads used to have iodine added to them but that was removed and replaced with bromide, a double-whammy for the pineal. Those of us that eat lots of refined foods, especially flours, may be hit particularly hard considering what is done in the alteration of wheat. Another reason to eat our veggies