“Change your diet to include more fish, vegetables, and fruit.”
—BRIAN D., PWP
Although there is no specific diet required for people with Parkinson’s, there are certain foods that may help alleviate symptoms, provide energy, or simply make medications work better. Additionally, as mentioned in chapter 13, some foods are associated with a slower progression of PD and therefore can be good to add to the diet. Many of these foods are found in the traditional Mediterranean diet.
As always, it is important to talk to your doctor and possibly a nutritionist before you make any changes to your diet, including asking about any vitamin supplements.
Following are some recommendations for a Parkinson’s diet.
Most doctors recommend drinking six to eight glasses of water a day depending on your body mass. This helps keep you hydrated and flushes toxins from your body. Hydration is extra important for people with Parkinson’s as low blood pressure, common in PD, can be exacerbated with dehydration. You may need to alter this amount if you are taking medications that affect your blood pressure, in which case you should talk to your doctor to determine the best plan for you.
Include fish like halibut, sardines, wild Alaskan salmon, herring, and anchovies in your diet, as they are all rich in the DHA and EPA omega-3 fatty acids. These fatty acids go to the brain to help guard against dementia, which affects anywhere between 50 and 80 percent of people with Parkinson’s.55
Brazil nuts, walnuts, almonds, cashews, and pistachios are all rich in antioxidants and may help ease PD symptoms. Sunflower, flax, and pumpkin seeds are also recommended.
Spinach, kale, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are especially good for people with Parkinson’s.
Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, and grapes are especially good for a Parkinson’s diet as they are high in antioxidants.
As noted in chapter 13, having coconut oil and olive oil in your diet is associated with a slower progression of PD.
Rosemary, curry, and turmeric (active ingredient curcumin) are all good choices to add to your meals. In addition, cinnamon is very rich in antioxidants, and some people with PD have found that this spice helps alleviate their tremors.
People often eat bran to relieve the constipation that results from PD. However, recent research has shown that vitamin B6, which is found readily in bran, can interfere with the efficacy of levodopa when the drug is taken alone.56 Therefore it may be helpful to try alternatives.
Instead of bran, try prune juice, grains, and fiber laxatives. You may also want to include high-fiber foods such as vegetables, cooked dried peas and beans (legumes), whole-grain foods, cereals, pasta, rice, and fresh fruit in your diet.
Also called broad beans, fava beans are a natural source of levodopa. But before you get on the fava bean train, one important thing you need to know is that the concentration and availability of levodopa in fava beans varies, so it’s possible to get either too much or too little levodopa.
If you get too much levodopa in your system you may experience overmedication effects such as dyskinesia or nausea, especially if you’re using other meds at the same time. If you don’t get enough levodopa your PD motor symptoms won’t be relieved.
Still, people with PD may benefit from eating fava beans, so if you’d like to try them, make sure you discuss it with your doctor first. He or she will most likely start you off on a small amount to see if it has an effect.
Red wine contains polyphenols known as flavonoids, which researchers have found may help protect the brain and possibly prevent PD from developing.57 One way they believe polyphenols may do this is by acting as an antioxidant and soaking up free radicals. Additionally, as mentioned in chapter 13, moderate red wine consumption may help slow the progression of PD.
More research needs to be done to understand the benefits of consuming red wine. Unfortunately, to date relatively few studies of the brain-protecting benefits of red wine have been based on human clinical trials.
Several studies have found caffeine to be helpful in both preventing and slowing the progression of PD. In fact, caffeinated coffee consumption was associated with 60 percent fewer cases of PD in one study. In another study, the risk of developing PD was significantly lower in those who regularly consumed caffeine, though the association was higher for men than women (specifically postmenopausal women).58
This positive correlation holds true with caffeine from other sources as well. Caffeine from consumption of green and black teas, dark chocolate, and sodas was also associated with a lower risk of PD.59
It is thought that caffeine may protect against PD by blocking something called adenosine receptors and increasing the amount of dopamine in the brain.
Though there may be a link between caffeine and Parkinson’s, it is too early to say that caffeine will prevent PD. Maybe the brains of people who like and dislike coffee are different, with differing rates of Parkinson’s.
Many of the foods recommended for a person with Parkinson’s are found in the Mediterranean diet. Adding these foods to your daily regimen can increase your nutrient intake and may help slow the progression of your disease.