UM-Palmitoylethanolamide can slow down Parkinson's disease | EurekAlert! Science News

Ultra-micronized palmitoylethanolamide: an efficacious adjuvant therapy for Parkinson's disease. - PubMed - NCBI

Study shows um-PEA as safe and efficacious adjuvant treatment for advanced PD patients

Although the research paper linked to by GerryW is behind a paywall, a couple of earlier papers are available for either a small charge [1], or no charge [2].

[1] The pharmacology of palmitoylethanolamide and first data on the therapeutic efficacy of some of its new formulations. Petrosino S, Di Marzo V. British journal of pharmacology, 29 September 2016 (Early View), doi: 10.1111/bph.13580.

(It's behind a paywall, but you can preview the first page for free. If you then register as a patient or carer (patientACCESS), you should be able to buy the full article for just a few dollars. However, the link titled "access" wasn't working when I tried it.)

The pharmacology of palmitoylethanolamide and first data on the therapeutic efficacy of some of its new formulations - Petrosino - 216 - British Journal of Pharmacology - Wiley Online Library

[2] Palmitoylethanolamide, a naturally occurring lipid, is an orally effective intestinal anti-inflammatory agent. Borrelli F, Romano B, Petrosino S, Pagano E, Capasso R, Coppola D, Battista G, Orlando P, Di Marzo V, Izzo AA. British journal of pharmacology, Volume 172, Issue 1, January 2015, doi: 10.1111/bph.12907.

(This one is free.)

Palmitoylethanolamide, a naturally occurring lipid, is an orally effective intestinal anti-inflammatory agent

Natural treatment of Parkinson with body’s own palmitoylethanolamide - Neuropathische pijn

This is really interesting as we tried CBD oil but it had no noticeable effect. Would love to know if anyone is taking this, and sources. Sounds like you may only be able to get it in Europe.

Neuroprotection in mouse PD model using PEA (

My mom also tried CBD oil with no noticeable benefit and the annoying side effect of even worse sleep than usual.

We ordered this from Europe a couple weeks ago and it just arrived in the U.S. with no problems. The company says that it occasionally gets held up in customs but usually delivers with no problems. Feel free to message me with any questions.

The study results were impressive but with only 30 treated patients and no control group, I know not to place too much stock in it. But while I'm skeptical, we're also becoming a bit more desperate, so it seemed worth a try.

My mom will start this slowly because she tends to be sensitive. I'll update in a month or so about whether she is receiving any benefits (or having any side effects).

Amazon offers PEA. Search 'palmitoylethanolamide'.

This substance is pretty benign... mostly because it is not well absorbed. You have to make sure you use only micronized (processed PEA to reduce particle size). This costs more money.
The PEA downside is that its poor solubility leads to failure.
It has been around for quite a while, and still we see little about it.

I wanted to report back on my mom's experiment with PEA. We were able to order this substance from one of the European makers without too much difficulty (although with some added expense). PM me if you want more info - I don't want to run afoul of policies here and seem like I'm trying to advertise something.

She took 400mg per day, which is I believe slightly less than what was taken in the Italian study of 30 or so patients.

She started and stopped it twice (for reasons explained below). On the third day of taking it each time, she experienced a "bump" and was more energetic and active. Very possibly a coincidence or a placebo effect, but i wanted to note it nonetheless.

She discontinued it both times (after about ten days) because she is convinced that it makes her temperature issues worse. (My mom is developing pretty significant autonomic dysfunction where she has intense periods of heat/sweating during the day.) These heat flashes - unrelated to menopause - were worse when she was on the PEA and it was hard for her to stay hydrated.

This was odd to me because I had read the study carefully (even bought the full study so I could read the details) and I didn't see this side effect reported.

But everyone is different, and my mom tends to be sensitive. And that was our experience. Generally, I think the side effects are minimal/nonexistent. My mom was just unlucky on this.

Let me know if you'd like more info -- and best wishes to everyone in their pursuit of treatments to keep this disease at bay!