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13.11.2015


Vitamin B6 protects against Parkinson's

Vitamin B6
People who consume relatively high quantities of vitamin B6 are less likely to develop Parkinson's than those whose diet contains relatively little vitamin B6. The Chinese epidemiologist Liang Shen, of Shandong University of Technology, drew this conclusion after doing a meta-study in which he gathered data from previously published studies on the relationship between vitamin B6 and Parkinson's disease and reanalysed them.

Lifestyle and Parkinson's
There is a relationship between lifestyle and Parkinson's. The disease occurs less among people who do heavy physical work and among athletes. A diet that is rich in peppers and paprika also offers protection, probably because these vegetables contain capsaicin, anatabine and nicotine.

And then there's vitamin B6 too [structural formula shown above].

Epidemiologists have regularly come across evidence of the protective effect of vitamin B6. In 2010, for example, Japanese epidemiologists published a small study in which they compared the diet of several hundred people with Parkinson's with that of a group of healthy people. [Br J Nutr. 2010 Sep;104(5):757-64.] The Japanese discovered that a relatively high vitamin B6 intake reduced the chance of Parkinson's developing.


Vitamin B6 protects against Parkinson's


Meta-study
Liang Shen gathered more studies like the Japanese one and put all the data together. The studies also looked at the intake of folates and of vitamin B12 and whether there was a correlation with Parkinson's. A diet containing large amounts of these vitamins offered no protection.

A relatively high intake of vitamin B6 did offer protection, however. People who consumed relatively large amounts of vitamin B6 were 35 percent less likely to develop Parkinson's than people who had a low vitamin B6 intake.


Vitamin B6 protects against Parkinson's


Explanation
An old theory says that folates, vitamin B6 and B12 combined reduce the concentration of the neurotoxic amino acid homocysteine and thus inhibit the development of Parkinson's. The results of this study do not confirm this theory, however, but rather suggest that it is vitamin B6 that protects, but through a different mechanism.

"Oxidative stress has been widely accepted to play an important role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's Disease", wrote Shen. "Besides its function as a cofactor, vitamin B6 is reported to possess antioxidant activity. Pyridoxine is found to exhibit singlet oxygen quench capacity comparable with those of highly efficient antioxidants vitamins C and E. It was demonstrated that vitamin B6 deficiency can lead to oxidative stress in rat liver and heart, while vitamin B6 supplementation can alleviate oxidative stress."

"Thus, based on these evidences, it is proposed that besides regulating homocysteine levels the antioxidant potential of vitamin B6 may lower the risk of PD through inhibiting oxidative stress."

Conclusion
"As the number of included studies is limited, more studies are warranted to confirm the findings and elucidate the mechanisms underlying these associations", Shen concluded.

Source:
Nutrients. 2015 Aug 27;7(9):7197-208.

More:
Paprika protects against Parkinson's 05.02.2015
Athletes less likely to develop Parkinson's 04.02.2015
Lifting weights protects against Parkinson's 20.12.2011

Archives:
Parkinson's
Vitamin B
Vitamins


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