Full article

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/14/296

thanks, interesting work, will take awhile to read and digest.

will have compare to early controlled release research.

haven't read enough of article to see if they measured "on/off" or if patients were advanced enough to experience them.

Interesting! On the other hand psyllium (Metamucil, plantago) is not recommended for PWP because it can make constipation worse. See http://movementdisorders.ufhealth.or...-constipation/

The article contradicts itself by first recommending Metamucil then warning against it.

Thanks lab rat. Too much for me to "digest" on the morning back after a long weekend. I'll wait for you guys to review and give an opinion.

So we'll see, and report back. I will be curious to see if it has any effect on

1. constipation (does it help in that dept. or make things worse or have no effect)

2. evening out the peaks/valleys of dosing every two hours

just a note: the one I bought from a health food store is a capsule of pure psyllium....there are others that have a bunch of other stuff in them. I wanted to avoid that complicating factor so we went with the pure encapsulated version. Best to take the capsule with a full 8oz. of water, I was told...I guess if you don't do that, you can increase the chance of getting constipated.

Although I can’t speak about flaxseed helping smooth out levodopa absorption levels, it is however an excellent and healthy way to help alleviate and/or prevent the discomfort of constipation.

I have used flaxseed for over a decade, adding it to everything thing from oatmeal, cereals, yogurt, smoothies, baked goods, meatloaf, meatballs, etc. Be sure to use ground flaxseed (whole seeds will not be absorbed) and refrigerate the open package. Give it a try, add 1-2 tablespoons to your diet, slowly. It has a nutty flavor, much nicer than the “orange” drink!

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-li...d/faq-20058354

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/benefits-of-flaxseed

I'm still looking for ways to smooth out levodopa levels. And via the original paper, found this thread from 4 years ago.

Here are the pharmacokinetic parameters reported in the paper:

V = value
U = units
A = initial situation
B = Plantago ovata husk
P = placebo

V, U, A, B, P
TMAX, min, 35.83, 39.72, 36.17
CMAX, ng/ml, 603.2, 547.8, 612.0
AUC, ug.min/ml, 62.87, 64.47, 65.10
THALF, min, 75.2, 81.9, 74.0

So, any effect here is small and probably not statistically significant. But, nevertheless, it's probably a useful area for N=1 trials: you might be able to squeeze a 10% increase out of your levodopa by optimising its use in this way.

John