The past few weeks I've come across a growing body of evidence that Parkinson's disease may start in the gut.

While diet clearly affects our health, could it be possible that eating fruits/veggies etc. vs junk food won't do much to alleviate/reverse Parkinson's symptoms unless one first cleanses the gut?

Mayo Clinic appears to have discovered a connection between gut and brain.

Research done by Braak suggests a Parkinson's to gut connection via the vagus nerve!

Two studies by neurological researchers at Rush University Medical Center suggest that the discovery of alpha synuclein in the colon, years before Parkinson's symptoms appeared may be used to predict which patients get Parkinson's.

I believe that this exciting new direction in research will result in Parkinson's treatment that will be quite effective!

I have just signed up for a research study at the panuc center here in Seattle, all about the gut.

That's exciting Nan! Please let us know what you discover. Research dating back to 1998 also indicates that autism occurence may be correlated to gut inflammation as well. Recent research seems to confirm that. See research by Dr Arthur Krigsman in 2010.

Nan could you provide a link to the study. Thank you.

Here's a link to The Braak research. Very interesting!

http://www.actaneurocomms.org/content/1/1/2

and the link for the research done at Rush University

http://www.rush.edu/rumc/page-1298329933967.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2605160/

Good article critiquing Braak. I was not sold entirely on the detailed Braak stage analysis. What matter most is whether or not studies can determine if the damage done to cause Parkinson's starts in the gut or the brain. If it can be shown that it starts in the gut, this would be a huge discovery!

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%...l.pone.0012728
lewy bodies in the gut were according to this article first reported in 1984. they have found lewy bodies in salivary glands, skin tissue, i imagine other places.

so pd affects more than the substantia nigra, that's been known for years. pd symptoms might be the major visible affect because there are so few cells in the substantia nigra and the produce something so essential, dopamine. every neuron there is precious! sounds kind of like "monty python".

what happens when you create neurons from skin cells from someone who has pd do they develop lewy bodies outside the body, i.e., in culture?
http://www.eurostemcell.org/factshee...tem-cells-help

NIH pd page, lot's of info.

Thanks for the links. The first one discusses Braak's suggestion:

"Braak and coworkers have postulated that the ENS is affected early by Lewy pathology during the course of PD, even before the pathology is apparent in the substantia nigra. This suggests that the ENS heralds the onset of a pathological process that further spreads to the CNS via autonomic innervation of the gut."

The question still left unanswered is whether the PD starts in the gut or the brain. Braak suggests the gut gets it first but the jury is still out on that. I am hoping it starts in the gut. This would be huge if true as it would give a starting place to focus on to stop PD there if possible!

This is called the Parkinson's Disease Gut Study, headed by clinical investigator: Cyrus Zabetian, who is also head of the PA GER study at the VA here in Seattle. I received a flyer when I went for my annual visit for the cognition study.

They are looking for people with or without PD, who live in the Puget Sound Seattle region. Participants will complete a brief medical history questionnaire and provide a stool sample. The time commitment is about 30 minutes. For more information call research coordinator Jennifer Pate at 206-764-2440.

The flyer says "researchers suspect that Parkinson's disease might start in the gut and spread to the brain through connected cells. People with PD often report gastrointestinal problems, such as constipation, starting years before the onset of PD. Join "the Parkinson's disease Gut study" to help researchers answer this question."