Parkinson’s special
Several pieces of research are pointing towards the ulcer bug Helicopylori Bacter as one culprit in triggering Parkinson’s disease. However it’s not as straight forward as just eliminating the bug as it does have some beneficial qualities – like all bacteria it needs to be kept in balance. If you are worried about this then the best thing you can do is to make sure that your gut bacteria are in tip top shape and the best way to do this is to take a pro-biotic supplement (the pro-biotic drinks and yoghurts tend to have too much sugar in them unfortunately) – ask me for advice – and to reduce the amount of sugar in your diet.
On the positive side the University of Chicago have found that lifting weights can help people who have Parkinson’s. Dance and Tai Chi also have benefits but not as much as the weights. The research programme was over 2 years and was progressive (increasing weight and repetitions), with a control group doing flexibility, balance and strengthening exercises. The first group showed improvement throughout the 2 years whereas the control group showed initial improvement but then reverted to the same scores at the end of the time as they had at the beginning. They don’t know why this happened and are hoping for more funding to hopefully find out but I would just say that if you know someone with Parkinson’s suggest they get weight training!
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