Email from Simone Guest

29th July 2012

Hi John
 
Thank you for your latest collection of articles.
 
Interesting that the first concerns treating inflammation.
 
Recently, I've been doing a good deal of reading around the topic of sugar in our diets.   This includes carbs which are broken down into sugar.  Sugar ingestion is responsible for increasing our inflammatory response.  Think of all the consequences of diabetes - ulcers, effects on vision, and an increased rate of Alzheimers in diabetics.
 
Googling for sugar + parkinsons disease brings up quite a lot of info.  One post on a blog from a man with PD found that his symptoms reduced very significantly when he reduced his intake of sugar and carbs. 
 
I know protein is meant to be the difficult dietary component regarding levadopa.  But if you stop to think about the greatly increased consumption of sugar since it was brought to our tables some 400 - 500 years ago .  Initially and for a very long time few people would have had access to it but in recent years sugar is in so much of our food (hidden or obvious) and we then add it as well.  It is highly addictive (we all love sweet things).  
 
An American called Robert Lustig has a very comprehensive (somewhat long) talk on YouTube on this topic.
Corn syrup is a particularly addictive form of sugar which the americans developed some time back and which is hidden in many processed foods.
 
I feel that this sugar link needs to be investigated.  In the most recent copy of the magazine we receive from Parkinson's UK , Page 7 in the section called Progress,  there is a paragraph called
Clues from Diabetes 
"There is evidence that people with diabetes have an increased risk of Parkinson's.  It turns out that diabetes drugs may also be useful for treating Parkinson's.
One example is exenatide - a drug already used by 6 million people with diabetes worldwide.  Lab studies funded by Parkinson's UK helped to show that exenatide could improve symptoms and even rescue dying cells in different animal models of Parkinson's.  Now exenatide is being tested in a small phase 2 study of 40 people with Parkinson's at University College London Hospital."
 
 

From Amazon I bought this book which I have found very interesting.   Diet and sugar intake are a main part of it.

Stop Alzheimer's Now!: How to Prevent & Reverse Dementia, Parkinson's, ALS, Multiple Sclerosis & Other Neurodegenerative Disorders by Russell L. Blaylock and Bruce Fife (1 Feb 2011)

All the best

Simone 

 Hi John
 
By all means add my email to your website. 
 
Very interesting that you limit your carbs but still miss sweets and chox.  Again, I feel that draws attention to the sugar link.
 
Gary Taubes (American) has written a couple of books re diet.  "Why We Get Fat" is one of them.   The Amazon reviews are very favourable, some from overweight people who have never lost weight successfully before finding that the weight just peels away without effort.  Some of his articles can be found on Google and are worth looking at.  He writes very well.
 
I remain convinced that the clue to many cases of Parkinson's is not via a microscope or more medication but probably from very basic origins.
 
Another aspect is adrenal exhaustion which of course also involves food metabolism.   Lifestyle is usually a major player here.  So many people with PD have experienced significant and lengthy stress before diagnosis.   Significantly raised cortisol levels for long periods don't do any of us any good.   Most of us experience significant stress at times in our lives and we all have different ways of manifesting what it's doing to us.  Some people would develop eczema or irritable bowel syndrome, for others the way of manifestation is much more destructive.
 
Do the high cortisol levels and the insulin resistance destroy the dopamine producing cells in some people?
 
Anyway, just my ideas.
 
Best wishes
Simone