Japanese researchers find that low vitamin B6 levels may increase the risk of Parkinson’s Disease by 50%.
In that a link has been suggested between B vitamin intake and Parkinson’s disease via the homocysteine pathway, Kentaro Murakami, from the University of Tokyo (Japan), and colleagues conducted a hospital-based case-control study involving 249 people with Parkinson’s disease, matching them to 368 people without any neurodegenerative condition. The team compiled data relating to B-vitamin intake via dietary questionnaire. Noting that: “Low intake of vitamin B6 was associated with an increased risk of [Parkinson’s Disease], independent of potential dietary and non-dietary confounders,” the team writes that: “In conclusion, in the present case-control study in Japan, low intake of vitamin B6, but not of folate, vitamin B12 or riboflavin, was independently associated with an increased risk of [Parkinson’s Disease].”
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Kentaro Murakami, Yoshihiro Miyake, Satoshi Sasaki, Keiko Tanaka, Wakaba Fukushima, Chikako Kiyohara, Yoshio Tsuboi, Tatsuo Yamada, Tomoko Oeda, Takami Miki, Nobutoshi Kawamura, Nobutaka Sakae, Hidenao Fukuyama, Yoshio Hirota, Masaki Nagai and the Fukuoka Kinki Parkinson’s Disease Study Group. “Dietary intake of folate vitamin B6 vitamin B12 and riboflavin and risk of Parkinson’s disease: a case-control study in Japan.” British Journal of Nutrition , 26 March 2010; doi: 10.1017/S0007114510001005.