LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Parkinson's

THE NEUROPROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF CAFFEINE – (02-11-08)

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The Neuroprotective Effects of Caffeine

Coffee has dealt with a bad rap for many years but this bad rap is not deserved. Much like chiropractic, the minivan and quiche. We have seen studies showing a protective effect of coffee consumption on Parkinson’s risk. The bottom line is that coffee contains polyphenols, just like tea, dark chocolate and red wine. These compounds are well known to protect us from chronic disease.

 With this in mind, this study was designed to evaluate caffeine intake, but intake was based on “cups per day,” which of course would include tea as well. But caffeine has its own set of benefits, although, like anything else, too much can create problems, in this case by overloading the adrenal glands. So caffeine is known to increase blood flow to the brain, and so increased nutrients to the brain would provide neurons with the ability to stay healthier.

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LEUKOARAIOSIS – AN MRI STUDY OF THE BRAIN – (02-25-08)

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Significant association between leukoaraiosis and metabolic syndrome in healthy subjects

For those of you not familiar with the term, leukoaraisosis is a finding on MRI that loss of white matter in the brain is occurring. And if that doesn’t sound like a good thing, then you’re right.

In this study, those patients with Metabolic Syndrome had triple the risk of having leukoaraiosis. This adds further weight to the concept that neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are actually a form of Type 3 diabetes resulting from insulin resistance.

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DIETARY PATTERNS AND RISK OF DEMENTIA – (05-26-08)

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Dietary patterns and risk of dementia

While some information about dietary links to altered mental capacity has come out, the strength of these associations just hasn’t been given the press it deserves.

In this study, a protective effect of fruits and veggies as well as fish intake was seen for both dementia and Alzheimer’s. Even more important, an increased intake of omega-6 fatty acids that wasn’t balanced out by increased omega-3s (aka the Western Diet) more than doubled the risk! There is no doubt that neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are strongly lifestyle related. However, if we don’t get the word out NOW, it will be at least 2 generations before we can see a decline in the incidence of these disorders.

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WHOLE BODY VIBRATION VS CONVENTIONAL PHYSIOTHERAPY

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Whole Body Vibration vs Conventional Physiotherapy for Parkinson’s Disease

WBV is a therapeutic procedure gaining ground. Hopefully, the clinics advertising its using for weight loss will go out of business (not very effective here) and the legitimate uses of WBV will be promoted. Improvements in bone density, lean body mass, balance / fall prevention, circulation (varicose veins, peripheral neuropathy) just to name a few. In addition, the use of WBV sends a mass of “proprioceptive input” up to the cerebellum–signals from every receptor around every joint–that can help with a variety of other problems. Given these effects, the benefits of WBV in conditions like Parkinson’s are multifactorial. Given the safety, this is a treatment modality that should be implemented in every patient.

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ALZHEIMERS IS NOT GENETIC–IT IS ENVIRONMENTAL

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ALZHEIMERS IS NOT GENETIC–IT IS ENVIRONMENTAL.  The problem is that there may be a genetic link, which means that the children of those with AD or Parkinson’s need to be educated on how to protect their brain.  And it’s not being done by neurologists at this point.  That means we are probably a generation or two away from lowering the tide of incidence.  We know that being prediabetic drastically increases your risk (to the point where AD and PD are being considered “type 3 diabetes) as does inflammation.

Basically, anything that is going to prevent your brain from generating the energy it needs (ATP from the mitochondria) is going to increase your risk, and anything that protects the mitochondria is going to lower your risk.

HOW TO PREVENT PARKINSON’S AND ALZHEIMERS DISEASES?

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Preventing Parkinson’s.  Diseases like Parkinsons and Alzheimers are diseases caused by lifestyle.  Unfortunately, this info rarely makes it to the general public, and, even worse, never makes it to the children of patients being diagnosed.  Which means this rapid increase in the incidence of neurodegenerative disorders will not stop for several generations because the ones that need to be educated NOW to prevent the disease in 20 years and not being educated.

The bottom line is that oxidative damage to brain cells leads to cell death.  Great when it happens for a few years in college, but years upon years of poor dietary choices, toxic environmental exposures and prediabetes (YES–prediabetes is a large risk factor) leads to accumulated deaths of cells in important regions of the brain.  Answers lie in stress management, “brain exercising,” high phytonutrient diet, exercising, strong intake of healthy fats, no intake of unhealthy fats and minimizing our exposure to chemicals.

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DOES CONSTIPATION INCREASE RISK FOR PARKINSON DISEASES?

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Very interesting study that found that in patients diagnosed w/ PD had constipation up to 20 YEARS before onset of symptoms.  A few comments.  First, we know that the damage to the brain occurs long before symptoms begin.  20 years actually sounds a bit right.  Second, how much does the constipation, which is a sign of something wrong w/ GI physiology, actually increase the risk for PD??  Bottom line–good GI health has long reaching effects and needs to be taken seriously.

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