Associations of Dietary Intakes with Parkinson's Disease: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Study

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic progressive neurodegenerative disease, and the exact etiology of PD has not been fully elucidated. Changes in dietary patterns play an important role in the onset and progression of PD. However, the association between specific dietary factors and PD remains unclear.

A total of 14,309 subjects from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (2007-2016) were included. Logistic regression was used to analyze the association between 34 nutrients and PD. The regression model was adjusted for potential confounders and effect modifiers including age, gender, race, education, hypertension, and stroke.

The data showed negative associations of the intake of protein (0.99 (0.98, 1.00), p = 0.018), fiber (0.96 (0.93, 0.99), p = 0.003), vitamin E (0.91 (0.86, 0.97), p = 0.005), copper (0.55 (0.36, 0.86), p = 0.009) with PD. Alpha carotene (p = 0.042), beta-carotene (p = 0.006), phosphorus (p = 0.018), magnesium (p = 0.002), sodium (p = 0.035), potassium (p = 0.001) had a potential negative correlation with PD. The intake of carbohydrate, sugars, fat, cholesterol, vitamin A, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein zeaxanthin, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin K, calcium, iron, zinc, selenium, caffeine, theobromine, alcohol was not associated with PD (p > 0.05).

Some specific dietary elements are associated with PD, and supplementation of dietary elements may have potentially beneficial effects. However, the observed associations between dietary factors and PD may be influenced by changes in diet resulting from the disease itself, rather than diet influencing PD risk. Further longitudinal studies are needed to establish causal relationships and directionality.