Unsolved mysteries Every once in awhile, disease prevention can be a "one-step-forward, two-steps-back" proposition. Over the past several decades, there's been a heavy focus on heart disease prevention by way of lowering cholesterol levels -- particularly the low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, variety. This type of cholesterol is generally regarded as "bad" and is what builds up in damaged arteries, eventually forming clogs that can lead to heart attacks. So it makes sense that we've all heeded the warnings to keep our cholesterol levels in check. But what if our best efforts have inadvertently put us at increased risk for a different, but equally deadly disease? According to a study published in the journal Movement Disorders in December, low LDL cholesterol levels may actually increase your risk of Parkinson's disease. The study involved 236 people -- 124 Parkinson's patients and 112 controls. The researchers measured all the participants' cholesterol levels and gathered information regarding their smoking habits and use of cholesterol-lowering drugs. They found that the subjects with the lowest LDL levels (less than 114 milligrams per deciliter) had a 3.5-fold higher occurrence of Parkinson's than the participants with higher LDL levels (more than 138 milligrams per deciliter). And in another interesting twist, the researchers also found that the patients battling Parkinson's were also less likely to have taken statin drugs than the patients in the control group who didn't have the disease. There just doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to this situation. As the lead researcher of the study put it "Parkinson's is a disease full of paradoxes." Paradoxical or not, these results certainly don't warrant a laissez-faire approach to cholesterol maintenance. But they also don't warrant a mad dash to your doctor for a statin drug prescription either. There's still a lot we don't know about Parkinson's disease, cholesterol, and why they interact the way they do. And until those questions have more definitive answers, your best bet is to keep on doing what you have been to keep both things under control. The best way to protect yourself from Parkinson's disease is to increase your intake of a few key nutrients, particularly vitamin E and riboflavin (vitamin B2). Dr. Wright has many more suggestions for Parkinson's prevention. To access his previous articles on this topic, visit the Nutrition & Healing website, www.wrightnewsletter.com, log in with the username and password listed on page 8 of your most recent issue, and enter "Parkinson's disease" into the search field. While you're there, you can also find information on managing your cholesterol levels without statin drugs by downloading the article titled "The sweet secret for effectively lowering cholesterol levels" from the January 2002 issue. What is...lipoprotein? Lipoprotein is a combination of fat and protein in the blood. Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, contains mostly fat and only a small amount of protein, and carries cholesterol from the liver to other parts of the body, which is why it is generally considered to be the "bad" type of cholesterol.
Nutrition & Healing Source:
"Lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels are associated with Parkinson's disease," Movement Disorders (early view), published online 12/18/06 The heart of the matter
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