58. Diet & Parkinson’s disease: Beef. It’s what’s for dinner.

“You are what you eat.” While this cliche is clearly an overstatement, it does emphasize the importance of a one’s diet. Our society is constantly recommending diets to help you accomplish specific goals, e.g. weight loss, improved cardiovascular health, better memory etc. Unfortunately, many of these claims are often unsubstantiated by scientific data. In this series, Dr. Tipton focuses on specific aspects of diet and reviews the current medical literature to find scientifically based information on the relationship between certain foods and Parkinson’s disease.

In this week’s video, Dr. Tipton discusses a large study that looked the effect that diets high in urate have on the incidence of Parkinson’s disease. Beef and other foods are large contributors of urate (aka uric acid), which when elevated may increase one’s risk of gout, a painful arthritis; however, many studies have shown that elevated uric acid levels may be protective against PD. Watch to learn more about this relationship and theory of why uric acid may be protective.

References:
1. Gao, X., Chen, H., Choi, H. K., Curhan, G., Schwarzschild, M. A., & Ascherio, A. (2008). Diet, urate, and Parkinson's disease risk in men. American Journal of Epidemiology, 167(7), 831–838.
2. Church WH & Ward VL. Uric acid is reduced in the substantia nigra in Parkinson’s disease: effect on dopamine oxidation. Brain Research Bulletin 1994;33(4):419-425.