Dietary patterns and risk of Parkinson's disease: a case-control study in Japan

Nearly all epidemiologic studies examining the association between the risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) and diet have focused on single foods and specific nutrients. However, epidemiologic evidence for the association of dietary pattern with PD, namely the measurement of overall diet by considering the cumulative effects of nutrients is extremely limited. We conducted a hospital-based case-control study in Japan to examine the relationship between dietary patterns and the risk of PD.

Patients with PD diagnosed using the UK PD Society Brain Bank criteria (n = 249) and controls without neurodegenerative diseases (n = 368) were recruited. At the time of recruitment, dietary intake during the preceding 1 month was assessed using a validated, self-administered diet history questionnaire. Dietary patterns from 33 predefined food groups (energy-adjusted food g/day) were extracted by factor analysis.

Three dietary patterns were identified: 'Healthy', 'Western' and 'Light meal' patterns. After adjustment for potential non-dietary confounding factors, the Healthy pattern, characterized by a high intake of vegetables, seaweed, pulses, mushrooms, fruits and fish, was inversely associated with the risk of PD with a border-line significance (P for trend = 0.06). Multivariate Odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) for PD in the highest quartile of the Healthy pattern was 0.54 (0.32-0.92) compared with the lowest quartile. No associations with PD were detected for the other two dietary patterns.

In this case-control study in Japan, a dietary pattern consisting of high intakes of vegetables, fruits and fish may be associated with a decreased risk of PD.