Parkinsons Disease – When the doctor says diet won’t help perhaps, we need to question the narrative.
I was driving home from Gympie listening to the ABC last night and heard a segment on Parkinsons disease.
Parkinson’s affects 150,000 Australians. That figure grows by 4% each year. Some estimates place the number of cases of Parkinson’s as high as around 219,000.
With roughly 50 new cases diagnosed daily, it’s now Australia’s second most common neurological disease behind dementia.
Professor Simon Lewis was discussing the disease as well as taking questions from the listeners.
It was interesting listen. I wanted to call up and ask what he thought of diet and Parkinsons, but driving made it impossible. Not long after that thought, someone called up and relayed the fact that the ketogenic diet helped people with seizures, perhaps it could help with Parkinsons. Professor Simon Lewis dismissed it, saying they were two different maladies.
I beg to differ.
What is Parkinson’s Disease?
A human body or brain in dysfunction can present as many different symptoms. I remember when I was learning about autoimmune diseases, the science of the day knew what the disease was but could not figure out the why. Why could one person presented with type one diabetes, another with rheumatoid arthritis, another with Hashimoto’s, another with scleroderma or Raynards, when the root cause of all was the same. They have the same mechanism but were affecting different systems and organs in the body.
Although I’m not a neurologist, I also believe that when the metabolism of the brain and neurological system, and then the vitalistic body is not functioning, then it may present as several symptoms. The gathering of symptoms is what usually defines Parkinson’s Disease as Dementia, as seizures, as depression, as bipolar. There are no blood tests.
Parkinson’s has always been associated with dopamine.
Currently, there is no specific test to diagnose Parkinson’s disease. A diagnosis is made by a neurologist. A diagnosis is based on medical history, review of symptoms, and a neurological and physical exam. Tests include mental abilities, senses, coordination and reflexes.
Parkinson’s Disease is a progressive, neurodegenerative movement disorder caused by the death of dopamine-producing brain neurons; this is usually the end stage of the disease.
Dopamine neuron dysfunction is also heavily linked to neurological and psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and addiction.
Here we have a case of medicine showing how Parkinson’s may not be the only issue with the dysfunction of dopamine neurons. Which brings me back to the beginning. Seizures are helped by using the ketogenic diet, mental health issues are helped using the ketogenic diet so why would Parkinson’s be any different. I’m merely asking the question. Let’s understand dopamine.
What is a dopamine disorder?
Dopamine is made from tyrosine. Tyrosine is an aromatic amino acid. It can be consumed by humans usually in animal protein but not always. When a protein is consumed and broken down into amino acids and begin flowing through the blood, the blood brain barrier selectively takes up tyrosine (makes dopamine) over tryptophan (makes serotonin). The opposite is true when you eat a carbohydrate. Even though tyrosine and tryptophan are both amino acids they are taken up differently depending on what you ate. Don’t you just love the human body it is so innately intelligent.
The gut bacteria have the ability to make tyrosine using the shikimate pathway. The shikimate pathway is inhibited by glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup and 596 other chemical compounds approved in Australia to be sprayed on food, parks, beaches and gardens. Approximately 50% of dopamine is made by the microbiome. This dopamine can affect brain activity via the gut brain axis.
People who have Parkinson’s Disease have disturbed sleep patterns as well as they present with a variety of gastrointestinal symptoms, including salivation, dysphagia, delayed gastric emptying, constipation, and anorectal dysfunction.
The death of the brain cells is the final stage of Parkinson’s. There are many symptoms before, but lifestyle and diet is rarely used to get to the route cause, but rather a slew of medications to stop the bodies cries for help in the form of a symptom.
Perhaps by looking at the Gut and the Gut brain axis and the metabolism of the brain we get a more vitalistic look at this disease.
Is Metabolic Psychiatry legitimate?
Metabolic Psychiatry, sometimes known as Nutritional Psychiatry, is about manipulating the brain’s metabolism to change the outcome of depression, anxiety, bipolar, and schizophrenia using diet.
Similarly, the GAPS (Gut and Psychology/Physiology Syndrome) diet can change the environment of the GUT and heal both the physical and neurological workings of the mind and body.
Going back to the initial symptoms of Parkinson’s which are gut and mental health it only makes sense to ignore the advice of Professor Simon Lewis regarding diet and Parkinson’s and at least give the body a chance to heal so that the result of the destruction of brain cells never eventuates.
Professor Simon Lewis is someone who looks at the disease of Parkinsons as something separate from what we eat. Most medical doctors are not taught about diet and lifestyle they are taught diagnosis and medication.
How the modern lifestyle affects the body
The evolution of humans has been from hunter gatherer to herder to agriculture and now we use chemicals to make our food. We once lived outside, walked, grounded, saw the sunrise and sunset, connected with people and had a diet that was specific to the location. Seasonal and local.
Food could be in abundance one season and by the winter there could be less. Plants might be plentiful in the summer and then nothing in the winter. There was an ebb and flow to the food we consumed. At times we would use plants and carbohydrates to feed our brain and body and at other times we would use animals and animal products to feed our brain and body, and sometimes a combination.
This ebb and flow allowed our metabolism to be flexible using glucose (carbohydrates) and or ketones (fats and protein). There were seasons when no plant food was available, so the body was in a state of ketosis for months. Other times plants were plentiful, and the body would move between glucose metabolism and ketosis.
Modern living allows us to eat anything at anytime from anywhere in the world. People have been told by the dietary guidelines to eat lots of carbohydrates in the way of breads, pastas, muffins and cereals, then fruits and vegetables, minimal animal protein, low fat dairy, and small amounts of fat. This means that most modern humans are not metabolically flexible but rather live on a glucose fuelled metabolism with overindulgence causing obesity and metabolic disease including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and mental health issues.
Modern living is what is causing dis-ease in the body. I don’t care what the dis-ease is, the answer should begin with diet and lifestyle. Once upon a time it was just about changing the quality of the food, that was back in the 1980’s when I began my nutritional career. But now people are so sick and so inflexible in their metabolism that we must look at extremes in diet to get well. These extremes do not need to be adhered to forever but at least until the body heals. Sometimes up to two years is required. So you can choose to go down the degenerative path using only medication or you can choose to try a diet and lifestyle, perhaps with some medication to mitigate the degeneration any further.
I’m not saying it is easy but it’s worth the effort.
Where To Find More Information
If Professor Simon Lewis had bothered to look at the literature a quick search would have found the following heading in PubMed published in a journal.
“The Effect of the Ketogenic Diet on the Therapy of Neurodegenerative Diseases and Its Impact on Improving Cognitive Functions” by Klaudia Grochowska and Anna Przeliorz
“They point out that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease are the most common neurodegenerative diseases in the world. It is believed that carbohydrate metabolism disorders may affect the progression of these diseases, as confirmed by both animal and human studies. Among patients with AD, the presence of ketone bodies in the body can improve cerebral circulation. Among Parkinson’s patients, the presence of ketone bodies can reduce muscle tremor and stiffness, as well as improve cognitive function. The results of the research indicate that using a low-carbohydrate diet, including a ketogenic diet, may have a beneficial effect on brain function in diseases that cause neuronal damage”.
The GAPS diet which works on the gut and brain, restricts carbohydrates to create an environment for healthy bacteria to be the main species of the GUT thus increasing the right metabolites for a healthy mind and body and as a side note changes the metabolism from using glucose to ketones.
Please listen in Dr Matthew Phillips a neurologist in New Zealand talking about Parkinsons and Ketosis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6HnCaGSqk4&t=598s
If you have been told by your doctor that your disease has nothing to do with your diet and lifestyle, then it’s time to find another doctor. Or better still, become informed yourself by educating yourself on what I always talk about: food and the ingredients needed to be the healthiest and most energetic.
Intuitively, we know when something is wrong with our body, but sometimes we give our power away rather than stepping into our power, educating ourselves and becoming the master of change.
Study Ketosis
The Nutrition Academy has a new app. And on that app we have the mental health and ketosis course. Everything you need to know in theory about it and everything you need to know to get onto a diet that puts you into ketosis, test yourself and understand the mechanisms that are life changing for mental and physical health.
Here is the link to the app. I look forward to seeing you on there.
Cyndi O’Meara.
