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    How lifestyle habits can prevent Parkinson’s disease

    Harry Posted on

    As our population has aged over the last few decades, this has been accompanied by a marked increase. Parkinson’s disease (PD). But the amount of increase is so staggering that we have to wonder what else could be happening. An aging population could certainly explain this increase, but are there other factors to what has actually become an epidemic?

    According to a 2018 paper by E. Ray Dorsey and colleagues, “neurological disorders have now become the leading source of disability worldwide, and the fastest growing neurological disorder in the world is Parkinson’s disease. “From 1990 to 2015, the number of people with Parkinson’s disease doubled to over 6 million.” They also state that this number is expected to double to over 12 million by 2040.

    Although there is no known way to reverse PD, we now know that it is preventable in many cases. Due to the increasing prevalence of the disease, there is now a great deal of focus on why this happens. That being said, there is a groundbreaking study published last April that gives us a tremendous insight into what the underlying cause of the disease might be and therefore a good idea of ​​how to prevent it. Another study published at Harvard this year reached a similar conclusion.

    Let’s look at the Harvard study first. It was published American Journal of Clinical Nutrition “A diet high in fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, fish and poultry, high in saturated fats, and low in alcohol and moderate alcohol intake may protect against PD. Benefits plant-based diet The involvement of fish in PD deserves further investigation.” However, it is the other study that I find even more intriguing and gives us good reason to be optimistic both on the prevention front and in slowing the progression of the disease and potentially reducing the severity of symptoms.

    This second study is on the subject microbiome health and its effect on Parkinson’s disease were published in the medical journal Nature. First of all, I would like to say a few words about our microbiome. Imagine a bustling city on a weekday morning, with sidewalks crowded with people rushing to work or appointments, as described by Harvard Health. They’re all walking in different directions, and no one looks exactly like the other.

    Fruits and vegetables (credit: INGIMAGE)

    Microbiomes in Our Body

    Now imagine this at the microscopic level and you have an idea of ​​what the microbiome, made up of trillions of microorganisms from thousands of different species, looks like inside our bodies. These consist of bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses. In a healthy person, these “bugs” coexist peacefully; The largest numbers are found in the small and large intestines, as well as throughout the body. The microbiome is even labeled as a supporting organ as it plays many important roles in supporting the smooth daily functioning of the human body. It affects almost every area of ​​health.

    RESEARCH over the last two decades has shown us how pronounced this effect is. Without spending too much time on the exact mechanisms of how the microbiome works, it is important to know that the gut microbiome has a huge impact on all systems in our body, and especially on our brain. (This is a result of what’s known as the gut-brain axis.) These days, hardly a week goes by without research revealing just how much of an impact the gut microbiome has on our brain health. For example, after decades of thinking that most of our nerve connections and brain-specific hormones are made in the brain, we now know that most of them come from the gut and travel to the brain via the vagus nerve and other pathways.

    Two things to keep in mind to prevent disease and possible reversals: 1) You can change the makeup of your microbiome through your lifestyle habits, and 2) the impact of your gut health on the brain is truly significant.

    When we look at the study in the journal Nature, we see that there is a lot of dysbiosis in the intestine in Parkinson’s patients. Simply put, there are too many types of inflammatory microbes and not enough anti-inflammatory microbes. This imbalance is often the catalyst for disease. By firmly establishing this connection and knowing that we can control our gut health with good lifestyle habits, we can reduce the likelihood of disease in general and certainly Parkinson’s disease.

    ALL of this information is supported by another published study. Movement Disorders. This medical journal concludes that greater adherence to a healthy plant-based diet is linked to significantly lower risks of Parkinson’s disease. The study also explored the impact of unhealthy plant-based eating habits and found that diets containing more refined grains and sugar-sweetened beverages increased the risk of disease.

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    Interviewed by the organization Forks over Knives, study author Aedin Cassidy, PhD, said: “For the first time, we have shown that a diet rich in healthy plant-based foods reduces the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease by 22 percent. ” Simple changes in diet, including increasing intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts and tea, can reduce the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. To date, no cure has been found for Parkinson’s disease, so strategies to prevent and reduce risk are particularly important.

    But there’s more to it than just diet. Exercise appears to be an important component in both preventing the disease and greatly slowing its progression. The Parkinson’s Outcomes Project shows that people with Parkinson’s who start exercising at least 2.5 hours a week early in their disease experience a slower decline in quality of life than those who start later, and more may be better. Establishing early exercise habits is crucial for overall disease management. Exercise is also microbiome-friendly, so if you combine a plant-based diet and exercise, your chances of avoiding Parkinson’s disease are expected to greatly increase.

    We now know for certain that Parkinson’s disease is somewhat preventable and that its symptoms can be well managed with a combination of intense exercise and a diet rich in various plants and low in saturated fat. This combination works to prevent and reverse many diseases; Let’s hope that these initial findings on PD will give us another area in health where you can “add hours to your days, days to your years, and years to your lives.”

    The author is a member of the International Council for Real Health Initiative and sits on the board of directors of Kosher Plant Based. He is a certified plant-based nutritionist and personal trainer experienced in healthy lifestyle coaching: www.alanfitness.com



    Harry
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