PARKINSON’S:: A low-calorie diet could reduce your risk

Our diets play a significant role in our longterm health. It’s an obvious thing to say, but scientists often remind us that the type of food we eat may be the single major factor in determining our wellbeing.
Two studies, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, bear out this point. The first draws a parallel between high-calorie diets and Parkinson’s disease. Conversely, a low-calorie diet may help reduce your risk of developing the disease.
Parkinson’s is a disease that seems to speed the ageing process by accelerating the loss of brain cells that produce the chemical dopamine. The cells can be protected by GDNF, a growth factor that is stimulated by a low-calorie diet.
In the second study, scientists have found that a diet rich in vitamin E slows or stops the spread of prostate and lung cancer cells. However, the effective form is the one found naturally in foods rather than in supplements.