The gut microbiome is like a giant factory that produces beneficial chemicals, Metcalfe-Roach explained. Your input affects how the microbiome works.
Diets like the Mediterranean and MIND diets are thought to use the microbiome to reduce inflammation, he said.
Understanding how these diets affect the microbiome and how the products of the microbiome affect Parkinson’s disease could open the door to new therapeutics, Metcalfe-Roach suggested.
Both diets encourage eating whole grains, vegetables, fish and reduced amounts of meat and dairy.
That there were differences among genders and differences among people who adhered to the two diets may offer more leads for researchers to pursue, Metcalfe-Roach added.
Parkinson’s disease affects about 1% of the population over age 60, making it the most common neurodegenerative disease behind Alzheimer’s. It affects “predominately dopamine-producing neurons in a specific area of the brain,” according to the Parkinson’s Foundation. Symptoms develop slowly over time.
There are certain genetic factors that account for about 10% of Parkinson’s cases, Metcalfe-Roach said. Environmental factors are also attributed as causes in some people.
James Beck, chief scientific officer at the Parkinson’s Foundation, said epidemiology studies are really important because they can help point the direction of where research can potentially go for Parkinson’s disease.
However, he said he had concerns about the use of a survey asking about eating habits after a person is diagnosed and assuming those habits hadn’t changed over the years.
“I don’t find that plausible because too often we are presented with new information about the importance of eating different things, and I feel that people’s diets change as a result of this information and that especially a person with Parkinson’s disease, their diet might have changed once they’ve been diagnosed,” Beck said. “They might endeavor to eat healthy.”