Health
Parkinson’s disease risk is linked to gut health, researchers say
Gut health has been linked to a common neurological disorder in a new study.
Those who have sustained damage to the upper lining of their gastrointestinal (GI) tract are 76% more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, according to research led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston.
The findings were published in JAMA Network Open on Sept. 5.
THE EFFECTS OF PARKINSON’S DISEASE ON THE BRAIN AND COMMON WAYS THOSE IMPACTED SUBDUE SYMPTOMS
The study included 9,350 patients (averaging 52 years of age) who underwent an upper endoscopy — a procedure that examines the esophagus, stomach and first portion of the small intestine — between 2000 and 2005 within the Mass General Brigham system.
Gut health has been linked to a common neurological disorder in a new study. (iStock)
Those who had “mucosal damage” were shown to have an elevated risk, the researchers found.
Parkinson’s disease was diagnosed an average of 14.2 years after the damage was detected, the study showed.
Mucosa, also called the mucous membrane, is the “soft tissue that lines the body’s canals and organs in the digestive, respiratory and reproductive systems,” according to Cleveland Clinic.
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“When asked, many of my patients with Parkinson’s disease will say, ‘Come to think of it, yeah, I started to get bad constipation or nausea, years before anyone diagnosed me with Parkinson’s,’” lead study author Trisha Pasricha, MD, a gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, told Fox News Digital.
“We now know that gut symptoms like these herald a future diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.”
The study included 9,350 patients who underwent an upper endoscopy, a procedure that examines the esophagus, stomach and first portion of the small intestine. (iStock)
Dr. Earnest Lee Murray, a board-certified neurologist at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Jackson, Tennessee, was not involved in the study, but confirmed that gastrointestinal dysfunction is very common in patients with Parkinson’s.
“Motor symptoms, such as stiffness, tremors and difficulty walking, are the stereotypical features of Parkinson’s,” Murray said.
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“However, there are several non-motor symptoms that are often seen, the most common being gastrointestinal dysfunction, especially constipation and difficulty swallowing.”
These gastrointestinal symptoms can appear years before the motor symptoms, the neurologist added.
Patients who had “mucosal damage” were shown to have an elevated risk, the researchers found. (iStock)
“Given the prominence of early gastrointestinal issues in Parkinson’s, there has been a theory suggesting that the pathology that causes Parkinson’s can originate in the GI tract and travel to the brain via the vagus nerve,” Murray said.
“This study gives additional evidence to the ‘gut-first’ theory.”
Causes and prevention of upper GI damage
Many factors can cause damage to the mucosal lining, Pasricha said.
“Those include taking NSAIDs like ibuprofen, drinking alcohol, stress or bacteria like H. pylori,” she said.
“Our study only examined people whose stomach symptoms were so severe that they sought an upper endoscopy to investigate the etiology, but we all experience small amounts of damage to our gut lining throughout our lives for various reasons.”
Gastrointestinal symptoms can appear years before the motor symptoms, such as tremors and stiffness, a neurologist said. (iStock)
It is not clear how those frequent, smaller amounts of damage impact the risk of Parkinson’s, the doctor noted.
“Nonetheless, I advise my patients — regardless of their risk of any neurological disease — that minimizing NSAIDs, reducing stress and cutting down on alcohol will only help their gut health,” she added.
As Murray noted, Parkinson’s is caused by a depletion of the neurotransmitter dopamine — which leads to slowed muscle movements, stiffness and tremors — and is also involved in the integrity of the GI tract.
Parkinson’s is caused by a depletion of the neurotransmitter dopamine — which leads to slowed muscle movements, stiffness and tremors — and is also involved in the integrity of the GI tract, a neurologist said. (iStock)
“As the study authors point out, we don’t know if the injury to the GI tissue triggers a depletion in dopamine or if the destruction of the GI tissue is the earliest sign of an issue with dopamine that eventually leads to more stereotypical Parkinson’s symptoms,” he told Fox News Digital.
Potential study limitations
While the study reveals a “strong link” between injury to the upper gastrointestinal tract and later development of Parkinson’s disease, Pasricha noted that the mechanisms leading to this effect are not yet known.
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The study did not include cases of Parkinson’s that were diagnosed outside the Mass General Brigham system, the researchers noted.
“The brain-gut connection is really a two-way street.”
Due to the small sample sizes in the study — and the risk of “confounding variables” that could introduce a measure of bias — the research team called for additional studies to confirm the association.
“The brain-gut connection is really a two-way street,” said Pasricha.
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“The gut can exert an enormous influence on the brain in ways we are still only beginning to understand — but when we do, we might be able to open new avenues for early intervention and treatment strategies for many diseases.”
The study was funded by grants from the National Institute on Aging, the American Gastroenterological Association and Harvard University.
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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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