Yes, buckwheat. You remember him from the Our Gang comedies? Oops, wrong guy.

I am talking about the "not-exactly-a-grain" whose flour is linked to pancakes and little else. Which is quite unfortunate because it is one heck of a plant and an excellent foodstuff. Grown completely around the globe, including Tibet. Loaded with nutrition, including all the essential amino acids makingit a complete protein.

Wait a minute.... "All the essential amino acids...."

Yes I regret to have to tell you that there is a serious conflict with levodopa. It took me a couple of weeks to figure it out, so I thought I'd save you the trouble.

yeah but can we absorb and uptake those nutrients? The spare tire round my belly inspired me to give up bread (95% - will cheat on occassion) and it is disappearing - the thought of carrying all that undigested stuff around became heavier than the waistline which is responding.

Anything that is that good for you cannot be sold for human consumption. It must have a fat content > 28% a sodium content of at least 1000mg and a minimum of 1000 calories per serving.

One thing that I found to be surprising was that buckwheat is a natural ACE inhibitor!
1. J Pept Sci. 2002 Jun;8(6):267-74.

Latent production of angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitors from buckwheat
protein.

Li CH, Matsui T, Matsumoto K, Yamasaki R, Kawasaki T.

Faculty of Agriculture, Division of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences,
Graduate School Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.

The latent production of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) Inhibitors from
tartary buckwheat (BW) was investigated, and the peptides responsible for ACE
inhibition characterized. Intact buckwheat was found to exhibit ACE inhibitory
activity having an IC50 value of 3.0 mg/ml. The activity of the protein fraction
(IC50: 0.36 mg protein/ml) was not enhanced by pepsin treatment. Pepsin, followed
by chymotrypsin and trypsin hydrolysis, resulted in a significant increase in the
ACE inhibitory activity (IC50: 0.14 mg protein/ml). The rutin contained in the
buckwheat did not exhibit any ACE inhibition. A single oral administration of BW
digest lowered the systolic blood pressure of a spontaneously hypertensive rat.
Thus, BW proteins offer a potential resource for producing ACE inhibitory
peptides during the digestion process. From the di-/tri-peptide fraction (DTPF)
of the BW digest, inhibitory peptides were identified. The magnitude (%) of the
total ACE inhibitory contribution of each identified peptide, relative to the
overall inhibition of the DTPF, was about 41%.

PMID: 12093003 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

The reason that was/is interesting-

1. J Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone Syst. 2010 Mar;11(1):49-56. doi:
10.1177/1470320309347789. Epub 2009 Oct 27.

The role of the central renin-angiotensin system in Parkinson's disease.

Mertens B, Vanderheyden P, Michotte Y, Sarre S.

Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Drug Analysis, Research Group
Experimental Neuropharmacology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Laarbeeklaan 103,
1090 Brussels, Belgium.

Since the discovery of a renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in the brain, several
studies have linked this central RAS to neurological disorders such as ischaemia,
Alzheimer's disease and depression. In the last decade, evidence has accumulated
that the central RAS might also play a role in Parkinson's disease. Although the
exact cause of this progressive neurodegenerative disorder of the basal ganglia
remains unidentified, inflammation and oxidative stress have been suggested to be
key factors in the pathogenesis and the progression of the disease. Since
angiotensin II is a pro-inflammatory compound that can induce the production of
reactive oxygen species due to activation of the NADPH-dependent oxidase complex,
this peptide might contribute to dopaminergic cell death. In this review, three
different strategies to interfere with the pathogenesis or the progression of
Parkinson's disease are discussed. They include inhibition of the
angiotensin-converting enzyme, blockade of the angiotensin II type 1 receptor and
stimulation of the angiotensin II type 2 receptor.

PMID: 19861346 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

That is just a sample of a growing body of published work on a, to me at least, new area of the Wonderful World of PD.

http://www.aarp.org/health/condition...th-cereal.html