Should I eat a mediterranean diet if I have Parkinson's?
Here is the ground truth on the Mediterranean diet and Parkinson’s disease— most of the data is on risk of coming down with Parkinson’s disease. The current data suggests that this diet might help PD symptoms, however the data is still emerging— studies are all small.
A Mediterranean diet focuses on eating plant-based food and healthy fats. Intake of meat is low or in some cases eliminated. The greatest health benefits have been appreciated in blood pressure and heart disease. There is recent evidence to suggest when studying large populations of people such a diet may delay the presentation of Parkinson’s disease (affect onset and/or be potentially protective). There is much less information on symptomatic benefits, however a few small studies suggest a Mediterranean diet may have motor and non-motor benefits. Check out our Facebook video on whether or not to eat a Mediterranean Diet with Parkinson’s.
There is a great description of a Mediterranean diet on the Parkinson’s Foundation website.
“Stresses eating more vegetables and monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil, while eating smaller amounts of lean protein, including chicken or fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon.”
Eat fruit, nuts, grains and beans.
Small studies have suggested that a “higher adherence to these diets was inversely associated with individual features, including constipation, excessive daytime sleepiness, and depression.”
Adherence to a healthy diet may reduce the occurrence of non-motor PD symptoms that may occur before a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease is made (Molsberry).
Paknahad and colleagues recently studied 35 PD and observed those PD folks on the diet had improvements in executive function, language, attention, concentration, and active memory.
The bottom line is that people with PD will need to appreciate that most of the Mediterranean diet data is risk for “getting PD.” There is a paucity of data to suggest that a Mediterranean diet may be useful for symptoms (more studies will hopefully be published soon). We believe the gut-brain connections in Parkinson’s will bring new information about diets, nutrition and the microbiome and that this information will likely drive innovations in the field.
Selected References:
Molsberry S, Bjornevik K, Hughes KC, Healy B, Schwarzschild M, Ascherio A. Diet pattern and prodromal features of Parkinson disease. Neurology. 2020 Oct 13;95(15):e2095-e2108. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000010523. Epub 2020 Aug 19. PMID: 32817391; PMCID: PMC7713746.
Paknahad Z, Sheklabadi E, Derakhshan Y, Bagherniya M, Chitsaz A. The effect of the Mediterranean diet on cognitive function in patients with Parkinson's disease: A randomized clinical controlled trial. Complement Ther Med. 2020 May;50:102366. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2020.102366. Epub 2020 Mar 4. PMID: 32444045.
