In a recent article published within the journal Movement Disorders, researchers performed a prospective cohort study amongst 126,283 participants from the UK (UK) Biobank to look at the association of three plant-based diets with Parkinson’s disease (PD) incidence.

Study: Plant-Based Dietary Patterns and Parkinson’s Disease: A Prospective Evaluation of the UK Biobank. Image Credit: kathryn.reilly / Shutterstock

Background

With the rise in global human population and life expectancy, the variety of aged people is increasing. Accordingly, the prevalence of neurological disorders like PD has surged amongst those over 60 and 80 years by 1% and three%, respectively.

PD causes each motor, e.g., postural instability, and nonmotor impairment symptoms, e.g., gastrointestinal dysfunction. To date, there isn’t a treatment for PD; thus, strategies for primary prevention and treatment for PD are needed. 

Thus, identifying and targeting modifiable PD risk aspects, equivalent to weight loss plan, could be the brand new avenue for PD prevention at an early stage. Population-based studies exploring the neuroprotective activity of compounds like vitamins C, A, E, and beta-carotene have fetched inconsistent results. Studies have more consistently suggested that caffeine intake might decelerate PD progression.

More recently, plant-based diets, equivalent to Mediterranean, vegan, and vegetarian diets, have garnered researchers’ attention. The EAT-Lancet Commission’s report really useful plant-based diets to enhance human and planetary health.

The potential synergistic effects of various components in a plant-based weight loss plan, e.g., fiber, vitamins, and bioactive compounds, are favorable. They may reduce oxidative stress, cognitive impairment, and inflammation and exert neuroprotective effects; thus, these diets could help prevent the onset or progression of chronic diseases. Although preliminary evidence shows high intakes of plant-based diets might reduce PD risk, overall data evidence of the protective effect(s) of weight loss plan on PD is proscribed. 

Concerning the study

In the current study, researchers recruited the UK Biobank participants from their 22 assessment centers in Scotland, Wales, and England. During their baseline visit, these people provided sociodemographic, health, and lifestyle data through a questionnaire, and trained personnel collected their physical measurements and biological samples.

Next, the team used the Oxford WebQ dietary questionnaire to evaluate their diet-related data, which described their frequency of consumption of ~200 foods and 30 beverages for the past 24 hours. Further, they calculated a plant-based weight loss plan index (PDI), including the unhealthful and healthful plant-based weight loss plan indices (uPDI and hPDI) based on culinary and dietary similarities of 17 food groups assessed on this study. 

The team further categorized these food groups into healthy, unhealthy plant foods, and animal foods. 

They added servings of every food of 17 food groups; later, they calculated the common intakes of all food items preceding PD diagnosis or till the study follow-up lasted to get a rating for every participant. The researchers summed scores to calculate PDI, hPDI, and uPDI, which ranged between 17 and 85. The extra rating based on only healthy plant foods (ohPDI) consumption ranged between six and 30. The upper PDI, hPDI, and uPDI scores reflected a weight loss plan with more plant-based but lower animal-based foods.

The team categorized baseline characteristics of the participants by quartiles of plant-based weight loss plan scores, which distributed ladies and men equitably across the quartiles. Further, they used Pearson χ2 or ANOVA to match the explicit or quantitative variables, respectively. Finally, the team used Cox proportional hazard regression models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for PD risk across quartiles of plant-based weight loss plan scores.

Results and conclusions

Nearly 56% of UK Biobank participants were female, with a mean age of 56.1 years. Through the study follow-up lasting 11.8 years,  577 cases of PD occurred. Within the multivariable model, the HR for the best vs. the bottom quartile of hPDI was 0.78, which is why participants in the best hPDI quartile had a 22% lower risk of PD; nevertheless, the next uPDI showed a correlation to a 38% greater risk of PD. The authors also noted a linear, albeit weaker, inverse association for overall PDI. 

The authors noted no association between dairy intake and PD in the present study. Nevertheless, higher intakes of vegetables, nuts, and tea lowered PD risk, especially when consumed in three, 0.5, and five portions/day.

In sensitivity analyses, differential associations between hPDI and PD were significant just for those with higher education (HR 0.84), smokers (HR 0.82), and lower PD polygenic risk rating (PRS) (HR 0.72). It suggested that dietary intervention might exclusively profit those without genetic risks.

To conclude, the study data evidenced that plant-based foods could potentially reduce PD risk and the danger of several other chronic diseases besides benefiting planetary health.