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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

PEPPERS REDUCE THE RISK OF PARKINSON'S DISEASE

21st May 2013 - New research

Annals of Neurology [2013] May 9 [Epub ahead of print] (Nielsen SS, Franklin GM, Longstreth WT, Swanson PD, Checkoway H.) 

Nicotine has long been known to reduce the risk of Parkinson's Disease. So researchers assessed whether the risk of Parkinson's Disease is associated with the consumption of nicotine-containing vegetables edibles from the same botanical family as tobacco, Solanaceae, which includes peppers, tomatoes, and potatoes.

When people with Parkinson's Disease were compared with those people that did not have it, Parkinson's Disease was found to be less likely in those people that ate more peppers, tomatoes, tomato juice, and potatoes during adulthood. An association was also found for just peppers. The likelihood of developing Parkinson's Disease was an average of 81% as likely, and in some people down to 65% as likely. The association was intensified when the nicotine concentration of the vegetables was higher. So it was nicotine that caused the effect. The potential effect largely occurred in people who had never used tobacco or who had smoked cigarettes for less than 10 years.

Consumption of other vegetables was unrelated to the likelihood of developing Parkinson's Disease. For a

PRELADENANT CLINICAL TRIAL RESULTS FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE

17th May 2013 - New research


Movement Disorders [2013] Apr 15 [Epub ahead of print] (S.A.Factor, K.Wolski, D.M.Togasaki, S.Huyck, M. Cantillon, T.W.Ho, R.A.Hauser, E.Pourcher)

Preladenant is a selective adenosine A2A receptor antagonist under investigation for the treatment of Parkinson's Disease. Instead of directly stimulating the formation or activity of dopamine, which is what most Parkinson's Disease drugs do, it can indirectly affect the dopamine receptors, which is what dopamine agonists affect. Two other drugs of this type that are being investigated are istradefylline (fairly unsuccessfully) and caffeine, which is in coffee, tea and cola drinks.

Preladenant was taken in 5mg dosages twice a day alongside L-dopa for nine months. Adverse reactions caused 14% of people to cease taking it. Adverse reactions experienced by some people were dyskinesia and constipation. Preladenant provided reductions in "off" time by between 1 hour 24 minutes and 1 hour 54 minutes. "On" time increased by between 1 hour 12 minutes and 1 hour 30 minutes.