Why do we believe in the inclusion of our integrative naturopathic and functional medicine approach to Parkinson’s so strongly?

1.  Because it is a well-documented fact that current medications only provide symptomatic relief and fail to halt the progression of Parkinson’s disease.
2.  A major hurdle in the development of therapies for Parkinson’s is the fact that there is no one single documented causation for the neuronal damage and many contributing factors.
   • There is a clear genetic susceptibility in the familial form of the disease (encoding α-synuclein gene, parkin gene, DJ-1, PINK-1, and LRRK2 genes). The majority of Parkinson’s disease cases are sporadic, however, implicating the role of multiple environmental factors.
   • Recent findings implicate mitochondrial dysfunction,  oxidative damage,  abnormal protein accumulation and protein phosphorylation as key molecular mechanisms compromising dopamine neuronal function and survival as the underlying cause of pathogenesis in both sporadic and familial PD.
   • Some of these changes such as Mitochondrial dysfunction can easily be altered to healthier stated by simple supplementation.
3. Gastrointestinal dysfunction, in particular, constipation, is an important non-motor symptom in PD and often precedes the onset of motor symptoms by years.  In fact, recent findings have shown a direct link between severity of symptoms and symptom types and the changes in the Microbial flora. For example, The relative abundance of Enterobacteriaceae was positively associated with the severity of postural instability and gait difficulty.  where as the bacteria Prevotella that is responsible for starch digestion is often present at lower levels. Both modifiable factors with integrative naturopathic approaches.
4. There is altered Cupper and Iron concentration in the brain tissue in all Parkinson’s disease cases.
5. And lastly, there is a strong positive association between past experiences of depression and Parkinson’s as well as a higher incident of depression diagnosed after the symptoms Parkinson’s develops, pointing to a direct mind-body connection in the disease process.