Eating Foods With Nicotine Could Help Prevent Parkinson's Disease

Editor's Choice Academic Journal Main Category: Parkinson's Disease Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet Article Date: 09 May 2013 - 12:00 PDT

Current ratings for: Eating Foods With Nicotine Could Help Prevent Parkinson's Disease

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The finding, which was published in a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society, Annals of Neurology, revealed that consuming certain foods that contain nicotine, such as plants belonging to the Solanaceae family, as well as peppers and tomatoes, could help lower Parkinson's risk.

The effects of nicotine on cognitive impairment have been explored before. In fact, a previous study published in Neurology found that wearing a nicotine patch may greatly help improve memory loss among older adults with mild cognitive impairment."Nicotine stimulates receptors in the brain that are important for thinking and memory and may have neuroprotective effects".

This study, which was led by Dr. Susan Searles Nielsen and her colleagues from the University of Washington in Seattle, included 490 patients who were diagnosed with Parkinson's disease as well as 644 "healthy" individuals (the control group).

The researchers gave the participants questionnaires asking about their diet as well as tobacco use.

They found that people who ate high levels of edible Solanaceae were at a lower risk of Parkinson's disease compared to those who didn't eat as much. Of all the different plants or foods with nicotine, pepper consumption appeared to provide the best protection.

Solanaceae's Parkinson's prevention benefits are most noticeable in people who never used tobacco producs.

Dr. Searles Nielsen, concluded:

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Eating Foods With Nicotine Could Help Prevent Parkinson's Disease