Receiving a diagnosis of “Early Alzheimer’s” from a SPECT scan cause me to suspect several neurodegenerative diseases may be associated with microbiome dysfunction. My SPECT (and memory issues) disappeared with alteration of gut bacteria.

A reader forwarded a link to a talk about gut bacteria and Parkinson’s — this area was a known because I recall reading an association of the two. This blog will examine the current medical literature on this — there is not much, just 20+ articles.

• “Recently, it has been recognized that the brain-gut axis interactions are significantly modulated by the gut microbiota via immunological, neuroendocrine, and direct neural mechanisms.Dysregulation of the brain-gut-microbiota axis in PD may be associated with gastrointestinal manifestations frequently preceding motor symptoms, as well as with the pathogenesis of PD itself, supporting the hypothesis that the pathological process is spread from the gut to the brain.” [2015]
• “The interaction between the host and its gut microbiome is a complex relationship whose manipulation could prove critical to preventing or treating not only various gut disorders…, but also central nervous system (CNS) disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.”[2015]
• “this is the first review of the key issues involving both the altered gut microbiota and impaired tissue barriers in the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)” [2015]
• “At the taxonomic level of genus, putative, “anti-inflammatory” butyrate-producing bacteria from the genera Blautia, Coprococcus, and Roseburia were significantly more abundant in feces of controls than PD patients…Bacteria from the genus Faecalibacterium were significantly more abundant in the mucosa of controls than PD.Putative, “proinflammatory” Proteobacteria of the genus Ralstonia were significantly more abundant in mucosa of PD than controls.”[2015] Which hints that Miyarisan may have effect on PD patients: There have been no trials on this yet.
• “These changes were associated with a shifted profile of the intestinal microbiome, including reduced levels of Butyrivibrio Fibrisolvens, Escherichia coli, and Fermicus, in G93A[ALS model] mice” [2015] – So Mutaflor is also a possible candidate for PD.
• “The relative abundance of Enterobacteriaceae was positively associated with the severity of postural instability and gait difficulty..On average, the abundance of Prevotellaceae in feces of PD patients was reduced by 77.6% as compared with controls. Relative abundance of Prevotellaceae of 6.5% or less, had 86.1% sensitivity and 38.9% specificity for PD.”[2015] i.e. this is a potential test for PD!!!
  • “The presence of Prevotella in the human gastrointestinal tract is inversely correlated with Parkinson’s Disease.”^{[2] (i.e. low levels – severe PD, high levels – mild PD)}
• “lactulose hydrogen breath test positivity for small-intestinal bacterial overgrowth [SIBO] (present in two thirds of PD patients) is associated with the same subsets:” [2015]
• “Case reports of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), have also shown favorable outcomes in Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, myoclonus dystonia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.”[2015]
• “it was recently speculated, that the associations between smoking, coffee, and PD risk could be mediated by gut microbiota.” [2015]
• “a prominent role for the gut microbiota in these gut-brain interactions. Based on studies using rodents raised in a germ-free environment, the gut microbiota appears to influence the development of emotional behavior, stress- and pain-modulation systems, and brain neurotransmitter systems.” [2015]
• “they are consistent with hypotheses of a causative role for the gut microbiota and gastrointestinal immune response in PD.”[2014]
• “We propose an alternative third hypothesis, in which both cigarette and coffee consumption change the composition of the microbiota in the gut in a way that mitigates intestinal inflammation…Strong epidemiologic evidence suggests that smokers and coffee drinkers have a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease (PD).” [2014]

Bottom Line

The studies above hints that two probiotics that may help PD:

• Mutaflor
• Miyarisan