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Paul Lauer, newly diagnosed (5 months) wrote, citing varying recommendations for limiting dietary protein: > Does anyone out there know if there is a "school" solution or does > it vary with severity of disease or timing of medication or other > parameters of which I am not aware. Hi, Based on my experience, here are some considerations: In general, the classic American diet, in which a generous hunk of "roast beast" is the main content of a meal, contains an excess of protein. At http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/Cat3.html a dietition gives the protein requirement for the average healthy person as 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. If you weigh 150 lbs. (68.2 kg.) you need about 55 grams of protein per day. This is the quantity of protein supplied by about 8 oz. of lean beef, fish or poultry. In a balanced diet following this requirement there would be somewhat less meat, since some protein would be supplied from other sources, such as beans. Dietary protein competes with levodopa for access to the brain across the brain-blood barrier. But this is not critical for someone in the early stages of PD. According to an article on nutrition at the NPF web site http://www.parkinson.org/nutrguid.htm, "Only a small percentage of patients with PD need to alter the amount or timing of protein intake to avoid interfering with Sinemet absorption. These are patients who experience significant on/of motor fluctuations, and typically take Sinemet six or more times per day." I am at a point (10th year with PD diagnosis) at which dietary fat seems to be the significant limiting factor, not protein. Fat prolongs the time during which the stomach retains its contents. Sinemet taken during this time, especially CR, gets held up in the general gridlock. Sinemet is not absorbed in the stomach, but rather in the small intestine. If you are in an early stage of PD, and you have lots of leeway in your med doses between the minimum needed to overcome symptoms and the amount at which the side effects, such as dyskinesia, begin, I don't see that protein is a problem. Phil Tompkins Hoboken NJ age 61/dx 1990