[olsen]

(granted food diary based studies are hard to reproduce and thus substantiate, though it was a prospective study. and I know this was a study in a Chinese population. Nonetheless...)

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2015 Feb 10. pii: jnnp-2014-310065. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2014-310065. [Epub ahead of print]
Dietary cholesterol, fats and risk of Parkinson's disease in the Singapore Chinese Health Study.
Tan LC1, Methawasin K2, Tan EK1, Tan JH3, Au WL1, Yuan JM4, Koh WP5.
Author information
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Prospective studies on lipids and risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) in Asian populations are sparse. This study prospectively examined the associations between dietary cholesterol and major fatty acids, and risk of PD among the Chinese in Singapore.
METHODS:
This study used data from the Singapore Chinese Health Study, a population-based prospective cohort of 63 257 men and women aged 45-74 years in Singapore enrolled in 1993-1998. Dietary intakes of cholesterol and fatty acids were derived from a validated semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire and the Singapore Food Composition Table. Incident PD cases were identified either through follow-up interviews or record linkage analysis with hospital discharge and PD outpatient registries.
RESULTS:
After an average of 14.6 years, 218 men and 193 women in the cohort developed PD. Dietary cholesterol was associated with statistically significantly lower risk of PD in a dose-dependent manner among men after adjustment for established risk factors for PD and intakes of major fatty acids. Compared to the lowest quartile, HR (95% CI) for the highest quartile was 0.53 (95% CI 0.33 to 0.84) (P for trend=0.006). Among women, dietary monounsaturated fatty acid was inversely associated with PD risk (P for trend=0.033). Compared to the lowest quartile, HR for the highest quartile was 0.44 (95% CI 0.22 to 0.88). There was no statistically significant association between dietary saturated, n-3 and n-6 fatty acids and PD risk.
CONCLUSIONS:
Higher intakes of cholesterol and monounsaturated fatty acids may reduce risk of PD in men and women, respectively.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25669745

[lurkingforacure]

Originally Posted by olsen

(granted food diary based studies are hard to reproduce and thus substantiate, though it was a prospective study. and I know this was a study in a Chinese population. Nonetheless...)

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2015 Feb 10. pii: jnnp-2014-310065. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2014-310065. [Epub ahead of print]
Dietary cholesterol, fats and risk of Parkinson's disease in the Singapore Chinese Health Study.
Tan LC1, Methawasin K2, Tan EK1, Tan JH3, Au WL1, Yuan JM4, Koh WP5.
Author information
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Prospective studies on lipids and risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) in Asian populations are sparse. This study prospectively examined the associations between dietary cholesterol and major fatty acids, and risk of PD among the Chinese in Singapore.
METHODS:
This study used data from the Singapore Chinese Health Study, a population-based prospective cohort of 63 257 men and women aged 45-74 years in Singapore enrolled in 1993-1998. Dietary intakes of cholesterol and fatty acids were derived from a validated semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire and the Singapore Food Composition Table. Incident PD cases were identified either through follow-up interviews or record linkage analysis with hospital discharge and PD outpatient registries.
RESULTS:
After an average of 14.6 years, 218 men and 193 women in the cohort developed PD. Dietary cholesterol was associated with statistically significantly lower risk of PD in a dose-dependent manner among men after adjustment for established risk factors for PD and intakes of major fatty acids. Compared to the lowest quartile, HR (95% CI) for the highest quartile was 0.53 (95% CI 0.33 to 0.84) (P for trend=0.006). Among women, dietary monounsaturated fatty acid was inversely associated with PD risk (P for trend=0.033). Compared to the lowest quartile, HR for the highest quartile was 0.44 (95% CI 0.22 to 0.88). There was no statistically significant association between dietary saturated, n-3 and n-6 fatty acids and PD risk.
CONCLUSIONS:
Higher intakes of cholesterol and monounsaturated fatty acids may reduce risk of PD in men and women, respectively.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25669745

Thank you for this, Olsen. We had extremely low cholesterol for years pre-PD, and thought this was such a good thing. It's sad that fat has been wrongfully villanized. I wonder how many sick people would be healthy today if they had eaten more healthy fats.

I think in hindsight society is going to look back and realize fats are crucial for brain health and the horrible starchy, sugary diet the world is increasingly eating instead of healthy (and plentiful) fats and vegetables is the cause of many illnesses. As the US food pyramid has incredibly shifted to now advocate 9-11 daily servings of grain (look at the food pyramid of the 1950s compared to today), diabetes rates (and other chronic illnesses) have skyrocketed. Crazy.

[Tupelo3]

Originally Posted by lurkingforacure

Thank you for this, Olsen. We had extremely low cholesterol for years pre-PD, and thought this was such a good thing. It's sad that fat has been wrongfully villanized. I wonder how many sick people would be healthy today if they had eaten more healthy fats.

I think in hindsight society is going to look back and realize fats are crucial for brain health and the horrible starchy, sugary diet the world is increasingly eating instead of healthy (and plentiful) fats and vegetables is the cause of many illnesses. As the US food pyramid has incredibly shifted to now advocate 9-11 daily servings of grain (look at the food pyramid of the 1950s compared to today), diabetes rates (and other chronic illnesses) have skyrocketed. Crazy.

I agree with you, lurking. I was the same way pre-PD, with very low cholesterol levels. Thought that was such a great thing. Now..........

[anagirl]

Yep - same with me.. The doctors used to tell me that I should be proud of my amazingly low cholesterol.

[GerryW]

Same here.

[Jomar]

I didn't see any mention of statin use or not in the Singapore study?
It would be interesting to know if the subjects were on any cholesterol lowering drugs?
Maybe statins aren't rx'd as much as in USA?
I wonder how the diet in Singapore compares to the standard USA diet..

But I hope it is true because I have high cholesterol.. and not taking a statin..

[Lana]

Same story. Was always praised by my doctor for perfect cholesterol levels.

[Aunt Bean]

Used to be low, but it is coming up. I have been using coconut oil , perhaps too much....LDLc is now 2 points high.