Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s Disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects predominately the dopamine-producing (“dopaminergic”) neurons in a specific area of the brain called substantia nigra. Symptoms generally develop slowly over years. The progression of symptoms is often a bit different from one person to another due to the diversity of the disease. People with PD may experience: Tremor, mainly at rest and described as pill rolling tremor in hands; other forms of tremor are possible Slowness and paucity of movement (called bradykinesia and hypokinesia) Limb stiffness (rigidity) Gait and balance problems (postural instability) In addition to movement-related (“motor”) symptoms, Parkinson’s symptoms may be unrelated to movement (“non-motor”). People with PD are often more impacted by their non-motor symptoms than motor symptoms. Examples of non- motor symptoms include: depression, anxiety, apathy, hallucinations, constipation, orthostatic hypotension, sleep disorders, loss of sense of smell, and a variety of cognitive impairments.

Parkinson's disease (PD) affects 1-2 per 1000 of the population at any time. PD prevalence is increasing with age and PD affects 1% of the population above 60 years although an estimated four percent of people with PD are diagnosed before age 50. Nearly one million people in the U.S. are living with Parkinson's disease (PD). This number is expected to rise to 1.2 million by 2030. Parkinson's is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease. Approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with PD each year. More than 10 million people worldwide are living with PD. Men are 1.5 times more likely to have Parkinson's disease than women.

Parkinson's disease is caused by a loss of nerve cells in the part of the brain called the substantia nigra. Nerve cells in this part of the brain are responsible for producing a chemical called dopamine. Dopamine acts as a messenger between the parts of the brain and nervous system that help control and co-ordinate body movements. If these nerve cells die or become damaged, the amount of dopamine in the brain is reduced. This means the part of the brain controlling movement cannot work as well as normal, causing movements to become slow and abnormal. The loss of nerve cells is a slow process. The symptoms of Parkinson's disease usually only start to develop when around 50% of the nerve cell activity in the substantia nigra have been lost. What causes the loss of nerve cells? It's not known why the loss of nerve cells associated with Parkinson's disease occurs, although research is ongoing to identify potential causes. Currently, it's believed a combination of genetic changes and environmental factors may be responsible for the condition.

Q10

Features of Parkinson's disease (PD) include oxidative stress, nigral mitochondrial complex I deficiency and visual dysfunction, all of which are also associated with coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) deficiency. CoQ10 supplementation provided a significant (P=0.01) mild symptomatic benefit on PD symptoms and a significantly (F(1,24)=8.48, P=0.008) better improvement of FMT performance compared with placebo. Our results indicate a moderate beneficial effect of oral CoQ10 supplementation in Parkinson’s Disease patients. Neuroscience Letters Volume 341, Issue 3, 8 May 2003, Pages 201-204 Levels of coenzyme Q10 have been reported to be decreased in blood and platelet mitochondria from Parkinson’s Disease patients. A number of preclinical studies in in vitro and in vivo models of PD have demonstrated that coenzyme Q10 can protect the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system. A phase II trial of coenzyme Q10 in patients with early, untreated Parkinson’s Disease demonstrated a positive trend for coenzyme Q10 to slow progressive disability that occurs in Parkinson’s Disease. Pharmacology & Therapeutics Volume 107, Issue 1, July 2005, Pages 120-130

** All data above are published as clinical trials and do not refer to EFSA claims. This means that they do not intend to be medical or therapeutical advice.