Vitamin B-12

Last week, I spent the week at PD Summer School, a full week of Parkinson’s wellness education. Dr. Laurie Mischley has spent the last 2 decades studying lifestyle and nutrition factors associated with either slower (better) or faster (worse) progression of Parkinson’s disease. The goal is to identify and implement positive deviance strategies that can be used to slow Parkinson’s disease progression ...

Trends in PD research are showing that in addition to Parkinson’s impact on the neurotransmitter dopamine and the dopamingeric system, the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and the brain’s cholingeric system are also impacted. This post reviews recent research (and some very old research that may need to be revisited), and discusses how two vitamins/supplements (Vitamin B12 and Citicoline/CDP Choline) may impact Parkinson’s disease. This should not be considered medical advice. Always consult your doctors and pharmacist about any vitamins or supplements that you are taking or considering. Related: Exhibit A: Yale Study challenges assumptions about PD and acetylcholine Several weeks ago, a ...

This Week's Highlights: Beer festival therapy; "How Parkinson’s gave me a better long-range jumper, a better baseball throwing arm, and a better outlook on life!"; impulse control disorders; PD and Vitamins B12 & D; into the rabbit hole of vitamins and supplements ...

Weekly Update - Highlights include: Mayo Clinic researchers explore the relationship between low levels of Vitamin B-12 and Parkinson’s; appendix removal might or might not affect Parkinson’s risk; monkey butt research finds PD related proteins linked to inflammation; impulse control disorders and PD; Pharmaceutical News from the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology; technology targets freezing of gait; creating your own placebo effect; inspiring people with Parkinson's talk boxing, DBS and poetry; and more ...

Mayo Clinic has published a research commentary that analyzes the relationship between low levels of Vitamin B-12 and Parkinson's Disease. While the paper does not prove causality, it does "propose that vitamin B12 supplementation could be considered as an adjuvant approach to improve cholinergic transmission and, potentially, motor and cognitive function in patients with PD." And it makes a case for "future clinical trials of high-dose vitamin B12 supplementation as a well-tolerated symptomatic adjunctive therapy for posture and gait instability and cognitive impairment in PD." Mayo Clinic Video: The paper analyzes the potential relationship between vitamin B12 and acetylcholine metabolism. Dysfunction ...

This is a recap of the most interesting news and discussions related to Parkinson’s Disease this past week. We start by trying to make sense of the latest news reports about Vitamin B-12 and hereditary Parkinson's. The research is very preliminary, but quite interesting when considered in conjunction with other recent studies. Next we ponder why researchers are giving fruit flies jet lag; see how PD progression can be measured with standard MRI equipment; learn why yelling at clouds may be a sign of a particular non-motor symptom of PD; watch local TV news stations participate in Parkinson's Disease Awareness ...

A recent study concluded that one of the active forms of Vitamin B-12 offers neuroprotection and significantly prevents neurotoxicity in animal models of Parkinson's which are influenced by a hereditary genetic variation in the LRRK2 gene. What exactly does that mean? Well, I'm not a scientist, and if you are reading this, you probably aren't either...so let's try to break this down so the rest of us can understand. (If by chance, you are a scientist, then I would suggest skipping this article, and reading this article instead: https://scienceofparkinsons.com/2019/03/22/b12/. As usual, the Science of Parkinson's website offers excellent detailed analysis, ...