Parkinson’s in men may be linked to high dairy diet

doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7379.10/a

BMJ 2003;326:10 ( 4 January )

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Parkinson's in men may be linked to high dairy diet

Men who eat large amounts of dairy products have an increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease, says a new epidemio-logicalstudy.

The study, led by Dr Honglei Chen of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Massachusetts,found that dietary intake of dairy products is associated withan increased risk of developing Parkinson's in men, but not inwomen (Annals of Neurology 2002;52:793-801)[CrossRef][ISI][Medline].

While the causes of Parkinson's disease are not clear, it has in some cases been linked to viruses, toxins, and drugs. Oxidativedamage has also been thought to contribute, and some studies havefound that anti- oxidants can protect against the progressionof the disease. Other dietary factors investigated so far includetotal energy intake, coffee, dietary fats, carbo-hydrates, chocolates,and a variety ofvitamins.

Men who ate 2.9 or more servings of dairy products a day had a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease than men whoate less than one serving a day (multivariate relative risk 1.8(95% confidence interval 1.2 to 2.8); P for trend = 0.004).

The association was even stronger after six years (relative risk 2.7 (1.5 to 5.1); P for trend = 0.003). No other food groupswere associated with risk of Parkinson's disease risk in men orwomen.

Deborah Josefson, Nebraska

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