What causes dementia?
If any doctor or researcher had the answer to any of these questions, they would be the most popular doctor or researcher in America and probably the world. In order to find a cure or successful treatment, one needs to know the cause and finding the cause for any of these dreadful conditions is tantamount to millions of people.
With Alzheimer’s, some are narrowing down the cause to Lewy bodies that build up in the brain. Learning to control those could be the salvation for millions, if they alone are the cause, which no one knows for certain at this time.
With Parkinson’s, researchers and specialists have an idea of where in the brain it occurs, but as to the exact cause, here is what the Mayo Clinic says:
In Parkinson’s disease, certain nerve cells (neurons) in the brain gradually break down or die. Many of the symptoms are due to a loss of neurons that produce a chemical messenger in your brain called dopamine. When dopamine levels decrease, it causes abnormal brain activity, leading to symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
The cause of Parkinson’s disease is unknown, but several factors appear to play a role,…
Could the cause or trigger for the decrease of dopamine levels in the brain that lead to the onset of Parkinson’s be as simple as a vitamin deficiency? Check out this report:
Researchers are always looking for new ways to treat the root cause and symptoms of Parkinson’s, which is why a new study that draws a strong connection between vitamin D levels and Parkinson’s is worth paying attention to.
This study tested the vitamin D levels of 182 patients with Parkinson’s disease and compared them to the vitamin D levels of 185 healthy control subjects. The results, which were published in the journal Acta Neurologica Scandinavia, showed that the participants with Parkinson’s disease had significantly lower levels of vitamin D. The results also showed that patients with lower vitamin D levels were more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, sleep issues, and falls—which are other common symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease.
So what does this mean for the many people out there with Parkinson’s? As senior author on the study Chun Feny, M.D., Ph.D., explained, “As various non-motor symptoms place a burden on individuals with Parkinson’s disease and their caregivers, vitamin D might be a potential add-on therapy for improving these neglected symptoms.”
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that we all need to have to maintain optimal health. Vitamin D is found in certain foods, like fatty fish, cheese, and egg yolks, but we mostly get it from the sun, which triggers vitamin D production in our body.
Deficiencies in this essential vitamin are pretty common; in fact, according to a 2011 study, as many as 41.6% percent of us aren’t getting adequate amounts of vitamin D. Many integrative and functional medicine doctors recommend a supplement to almost all of their patients, especially those who spend a lot of time indoors, live in colder climates, and have darker skin.
Vitamin D plays many important roles in our health, including maintaining the integrity of our bones, modulating cell growth, reducing inflammation, supporting the immune system, and promoting calcium absorption. In other words, it’s really, really important to our overall health. And as we can see from this study, it appears to be important when it comes to Parkinson’s disease, too…
I can’t help but wonder if the great amount of people with a vitamin D deficiency is due to a combination of warnings about skin cancer and electronic technology? Due to the high rates of skin cancer, we are constantly warned to wear clothes that covers our skin – long sleeves and long pants, etc., but if the skin is constantly covered, it can’t manufacture the natural vitamin D from the sunlight.
Secondly, with all of the modern electronic technologies, fewer people spend time outside. Rather they are inside more with their cell phones, tablets, computers, video games and more.
Most likely, Parkinson’s wasn’t nearly as prevalent a century ago as many more people spent more time outdoors and thus had a plentiful supply of natural vitamin D.