SMACK!! <-- Bard smacks Ivan upside his wee head) You just HAD to
go and mention ICE CREAM didn't you!?! (mouth watering) <grinning>

NOW I'll be thinkin' about ice cream ALL day.... no... make that
all WEEKEND!

I wonder if one can gain weight from excessive THINKING about ice
cream.... <LOL>

Barb Mallut]
[log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----
From: Ivan M Suzman <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, May 07, 1999 11:47 PM
Subject: Re: On the trail of the cure: the PWP sugar puzzle/ a
GENE?


>Jennifer and the million other PWP's who crave sweets--not to
mention ICE
>CREAM - did I say that? --:
>
>Could a single GENE, if mutated, shut down the dopamine to
adrenaline
>pathway, and cause a variety of different diseases, including PD
or
>diabetes?  Could this explain why there seem to be many more
diabetics
>within the families of PWP's than usual?
>
>Are any of the PD foundations and societies, American or
overseas,
>looking into this?  Robin Elliot, Carole Cassidy, Ida Kamphuis,
Brian
>Collins, Perry Cohen, Parkinson's Alliance, NPF, APDA, other
>countries--what do you think?
>
>Any biochemists or geneticists out there wish to respond?
>
>Thank you,
>
>Ivan
>
>On Fri, 7 May 1999 17:06:06 -0400 Jennifer Smith
<[log in to unmask]>
>writes:
>I plan to pass the info >onto my>friend who asked me the question
about
>sugar cravings and PD.
>>Jennifer Smith
>>
>>Ivan M Suzman wrote:
>>
>>> ^^^^^^  WARM GREETINGS  FROM  ^^^^^^^^^^^^  :-)
>>>  Ivan Suzman        49/39/36       [log in to unmask]   :-)
>>>  Portland, Maine    land of lighthouses         64  deg. F
:-)
>>>
******************************************************************
**
>>> Hello again, folks,
>>>
>>> Here's a thought, ESPECIALLY if you have discovered that you
need
>>extra
>>> SUGAR at times:
>>>
>>>   PD is caused by lowered dopamine.  Dopamine breaks down to
>>adrenaline;
>>> so I wonder if dopamine deficiency in PWP's means lowered
adrenaline
>>in
>>> those PWP's, too.
>>>
>>>   Adrenaline, meanwhile, inhibits insulin. So, I also wonder
if
>>lowered
>>> adrenaline could leave insulin production less regulated,
resulting
>>in
>>> excessive insulin in PWP's.
>>>
>>>   Raised insulin lowers blood sugar.  Could this explain a
PWP's
>>need for
>>> sugary foods and sweets, which we often talk about here on
this
>>list, to
>>> compensate?
>>>
>>>   "Hypoglycemia" is low blood sugar.  A neurologist I talked
to says
>>that
>>> lowered blood sugar symptoms--shaking muscles, cold sweat,
>>exhaustion,
>>> tremor -- are very similar to lowered dopamine symptoms that
appear
>>> either before dose, or with end of dose off-periods of PWP's .
>>>
>>>   One last thought for now --does lowered adrenaline give you
that
>>BLAH
>>> feeling (no motiviation to do anything because you just DON'T
have
>>the
>>> energy?
>