New research has found a link between inflammatory bowel disease and Parkinson’s disease.
A new study has uncovered a potential link between inflammatory bowel disease and Parkinson’s disease, according to recent findings in NPJ Parkinson’s Disease.
The research reveals that patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease or Parkinson’s disease show significantly lower levels of beneficial gut bacteria.
Inflammatory bowel disease, a condition affecting approximately 5 million people worldwide, is known for causing a range of gastrointestinal symptoms.
Previous studies have shown that inflammatory bowel disease may increase the risk of developing neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. One meta-analysis study found that individuals with inflammatory bowel disease face a 41% higher risk of Parkinson’s disease compared to those without.
To investigate this connection further, researchers conducted a study involving 54 Parkinson’s patients, 26 patients with inflammatory bowel disease, and 16 healthy controls. All were aged between 40 and 80, with Parkinson’s patients being older on average.
In addition to analyzing these samples, the research team examined a large open-source metagenome dataset comprising samples from 490 Parkinson’s patients and 234 controls for comparison.
The findings revealed a decrease in several short-chain fatty acid-producing bacterial species in patients with both Parkinson’s disease and inflammatory bowel disease, as well as a reduction in synthetic pathways. The researchers explained that, most notably, there was a reduction in bacterial species that produce butyric acid, which is known to protect against neurodegeneration.
The researchers noted that the gut microbiome of inflammatory bowel disease and Parkinson’s disease is similar, but they emphasised that this is the first study to examine the gut microbiome in both diseases and that further research is necessary.
