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OK, I'll play. There seems to be some truth to what you wrote. I'll start with the comments on ADD and hyperactivity since I have ADD, PD and am Bi polar; and all three are dopamine related. My 22 year old daughter is severe ADD with hyperactivity, and my 13 year old son is ADHD (same thing, different terms due to the year of diagnosis and term change.) ADD occurs both with or without hyperactivity. Hyperactivity also occurs independent of ADD. Hyperactivity can be physical, mental, or both. Refined sugar and some food additives have been shown to cause hyperactivity in 50% of ALL children regardless of ADD, ADHD, hyperactive, or "normal". What I have found that seems to cause negative changes in the PD is gluten. I think there is a great need to read all drug (OTCs and Rxs) and food labels, from ice cream to reduced fat cheese; anything that is a prepared item that you do not create yourself. The MSG you mention is gluten related. (More specifically it is the gliaden protein in the gluten in wheat, oats, barley, rye, and millet). Try eliminating these grains, and products made from these grains from the diet. Gluten can be found hiding in MSG, food flavorings made with alcohol, natural flavorings, dextrin, maltodextrin (unless the product says it is made from corn), caramel coloring, malted anything, hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), hydrolyzed plant protein (HPP), modified food starch, bread (unless it says "gluten free"), pastas (unless made from rice or corn), communion wafers, gravy, distilled vinegar, blue cheese , Roquefort, and so-called light foods. Gluten can show up as filler in laxatives, prescription medications, false tooth fixative, mouthwash (alcohol) , head ache remedies, and vitamin tablets. A year ago a friend, who is very well positioned in a (non US, non Canadian) pharmaceutical company and has regular contact with researchers, doctors, scientists, and attends many symposia each year in Europe, Central, and North America, told me she heard that PD is thought to (somehow) be related to mad cow disease; she thought is was said to be possibly through ingestion of (infected/contaminated?) meat, people get PD. (She is a meat and dairy user, too.) I have read in either the Washington Times Weekly or the Spotlight weekly within the last year, that mad cow disease has already been in the US for some time, just it is being hushed. But, don't believe everything you read, as the saying goes. Another friend told me to try the Hallelujah diet. After the two months I was sticking with the diet, I saw the neurologist who said I looked like I did not have PD; incidentally, I felt better and had more energy. I dropped off the Hallelujah diet because of the squabbling it caused in my family. (I have also kept the gluten out of my diet for 2 years now). The Hallelujah diet is a drastic change from my husband's dictated standard diet. (We've fought over diet for 25+ years. Hubby acts horrrrrrible if he doesn't get his way where food is concerned.) At the next visit after I had been off the diet my neuro said I needed more medication to free up my arm movement. Anywise, I don't know if it was the diet change or "all in my head" because I wanted it to work, but I'm going to go back on the diet anywise. BTW: My neuro also told us avoid all exposure to toxins; to get rid of all toxins, fertilizers, and insecticides around our house. Take 3 times the US RDA of vitamins, plus another 1000 mg of C, and 800 units of E each day. Off the food subject: My cousins have maintained since these items were first marketed, that the electronic pest repel devices cause cancer and brain dis-function. Mom kept one of those things in the book case behind my dad's chair, at his head level, where he spent 16 hours a day setting. My dad died with cancer. I have PD. Is there something to this idea of my cousins? -----Original Message----- From: John Lawley <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Date: Monday, November 01, 1999 4:51 PM Subject: Food chemicals in the brain? Hi all from Erika, We talk a lot about a cure------ but, as in all health issues, could prevention be an option worth looking at. i.e. "what" it is, that gets into the brain that does the damage?