Ultraprocessed foods and Parkinson’s Disease
A paper appearing in the journal Nature1 reported a very painstaking study of markers and mechanisms associated with the autoimmune disease lupus. Lupus is challenging to manage and can be deadly, as there is no cure. The study linked a cellular pathway that can be influenced by our old friend butyrate as a potential therapeutic target for treating lupus.
The journal Neurology just published a paper linking consumption of ultraprocessed foods with early symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease3. The study showed that high consumption of foods such as soda, processed meats and snack foods was associated with a two and a half times risk of having symptoms including constipation, smell deficits, REM sleep disorder, and depression. This constellation of symptoms is indicative of a very high risk of developing Parkinson’s Disease.
These findings reinforce previous findings linking diet to risk for Parkinson’s Disease (PD). In 2020, Molsberry et al. reported that adherence to a Mediterranean type diet was associated fewer prodromal signs of PD, such as constipation, REM sleep disorder and daytime sleepiness, and depression4 .
Take home message
Overall, the finding support other studies that have indicated that Parkinson’s Disease can begin in the gut5,6 . There has been a longstanding association of toxin exposure to idiopathic (non-genetic) case of Parkinson’s7 , and it may be that the industrialization of food production may generate food constituents that drive the development of Parkinson’s Disease. This is a very good reason to cut back on ultra-processed foods!
Lupus: Potential therapeutic pathway of fiber
The pathway that the researchers identified can be influenced by something called the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, which among other things can have anti-inflammatory and immune regulatory actions. A key influence on the aryl hydrocarbon receptor are the short chain fatty acids, including butyrate.
Butyrate is the source of energy for the gut lining cells that absorb our food. Nearly all of the butyrate that the gut lining needs is provided by certain microbes that depend on our diet for their survival. We are not able to make butyrate ourselves, so we rely on microbes. Butyrate can downregulate inflammation in the gut2 and the findings from this report indicate that butyrate could also be a therapeutic target for lupus.
Take home message
The paper describes another way in which the gut can influence systemic immune function. Because the principal source of butyrate comes from microbes and microbes depend on diet, the findings underline the importance of diet for autoimmunity beyond gut. In case you don’t know, the main food for butyrate-producing microbes is fiber, both soluble and insoluble.
An understandable discussion of the paper can be found here