Parkinson's Disease and Cholesterol

Within the last week we have talked about the association between Helicobacter pylori and Parkinson’s disease and the way in which Parkinson’s disease may often get better if people are treated with a cocktail of antibiotics. We have also discussed the association between Parkinson’s disease, allergies and inflammation.

Now new research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has  found that people with low levels of LDL cholesterol are more likely to have Parkinson’s disease than people with high LDL levels. This is the form of cholesterol sometimes referred to as "bad cholesterol." This study followed the strange observation that people with Parkinson’s disease have a lower rates of heart attack and stroke than people who do not have the disease. It is also known that known that cigarette smoking, which increases a person’s risk for cardiovascular disease, is also associated with a decreased risk of Parkinson’s disease. 

Few scientific stories are clear cut: it usually takes a while to get things right. Just to prove it, a study from the Netherlands found that high total cholesterol levels were associated with lower rates of Parkinson’s disease, but only in women.

So what to make of all this: infections, allergies and now cholesterol?

To try and understand this, I think that we need to introduce another actor to the stage. Since the early 1950s the medical community has been concerned about a striking concentration of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinsonism-dementia among the Chamorro people on the island of Guam. A number of lines of evidence have suggested that this group of illnesses has been caused by some neurotoxic agent in the environment, though nobody has been able to work out exactly what it is. One of the most attractive recent theories is that it might have something to do with toxins from Cycas plants. So the idea is that similar cholesterol-containing neurotoxins can come either from Helicobacter or from eating Cycas plants, or animals that have fed on the plants.

There is a complex inter-relationship between LDL- and HDL-cholesterol, and HDL-cholesterol appears to be anti-inflammatory: high levels of HDL-cholesterol are associated with low levels of inflammation. And it has recently been shown that simvastatin may cut the risk of developing Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Not just by lowering cholesterol but from its inflammatory activity.

It may also be that low levels of cholesterol may impair the activity of another factor: one that interests me is coenzyme Q10.

From a practical perspective, this new evidence reinforces a point that I made in Healing, Meaning and Purpose and on this blog: "boosting" one component of the blood or lowering another is not sensible. Whether dealing with cholecterol or immunity, we need to moduate and harmonize all the systems of our bodies and our minds.

Follow our systems for modulating the inflammatory mediators in your body and that alone should – theoretically – reduce your risk of many illnesses.

I shall keep you posted as this story continues to develop.