Last week we shared a story about the importance of maintaining microbiome health. Well, it turns out gut health may be even more critical than we previously knew and could even help prevent the progression of Parkinson’s disease.
According to research published in the Cell Reports journal, a specific probiotic bacterium could prevent the abnormal accumulation of a protein that augments neurological damage caused by the disease. This contributes to previous research that shows how misfolded clumps of proteins called Lewy bodies, which cause neuron damage, could initially form in the gut before traveling to the brain.
The new discovery comes from a group of researchers from the universities of Edinburgh and Dundee who examined the effect of a number of commonly available probiotics on Parkinson’s in animal models.
One particular probiotic bacterium, Bacillus subtilis, was shown to be effective in limiting protein accumulation. The theory is still in the early phases of research, but it suggests the increased importance of gut health and a potential solution for Parkinson’s treatment in the future.
