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From todays "Oregonian" Consuming less food may reverse early Parkinson's Eating less may reverse early stage Parkinson's disease, suggests a study by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University and Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Charles Meshul, an associate professor of behavioral neuroscience who did the study in mice, showed that a restricted diet reverses a Parkinson's-induced drop in glutamate, a brain neurotransmitter important for motor control, function and learning. The results, presented last week at the Society for Neuroscience's 35th annual meeting in Washington, D.C., are the first to show that fewer calories can disable brain chemical changes occurring in early stage Parkinson's. Meshul's lab compared two groups of mice with 60 percent to 75 percent loss of dopamine in the brain, representing early stage Parkinson's. In a 21-day period, one group had access to food every day while the other had access every other day. The mice that ate less often lost 10 percent to 15 percent of their weight compared with the others. "Dietary restriction appears to be normalizing the levels of glutamate," Meshul said, perhaps indicating "there are certain synapse changes going on in the brain to counteract the effects of Parkinson's." %%byline%%-- Compiled by Richard L. Hill %%endby%%%%bodybegins%% body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn