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Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health
Parkinson’s Disease Risks Lower with High Levels of
Urate in Blood
Large Harvard study finds potent antioxidant works
against oxidative stress
June 22, 2007 - A large study at Harvard School of
Public Health has that found high levels of urate in the blood appear to
reduce the risk of getting Parkinson’s disease. Urate (or uric acid) is a normal component of blood, and although
high levels can lead to gout, urate might also have beneficial effects
because it is a potent antioxidant.
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Parkinson’s disease, which primarily strikes senior
citizens over age 65, is a chronic, progressive nerve disorder
associated with destruction of brain cells producing dopamine, a
neurotransmitter essential to the normal functioning of the central
nervous system.
“This is the strongest evidence to date that urate
may protect against Parkinson’s disease,” said lead author Marc
Weisskopf, Assistant Professor of Environmental and Occupational
Epidemiology at HSPH. The findings were published online on June 20,
2007 in The American Journal of Epidemiolog.
The researchers used the HSPH-based Health
Professionals Follow-up Study, a population of male health professionals
established in 1986, as the source for their data.
Using this data, the study included more than
18,000 men without Parkinson’s disease who had provided blood samples
between 1993 and 1995 and whose subsequent health status was followed.
The researchers found that men in the top quartile
of blood urate concentration had 55 percent lower risk of developing
Parkinson’s disease than men in the bottom quartile. This difference was
not explained by differences in age or other risk factors for
Parkinson’s disease.
The results of two previous studies had suggested a
possible inverse relation between blood urate and risk of Parkinson’s
disease, but it is only when the previous data were combined with those
of this new study that the evidence became compelling.
The authors hypothesize that urate’s antioxidant
properties may help dampen the effects of oxidative stress, which
appears to contribute to the progressive loss of the dopamine-producing
brain cells that occurs in individuals with Parkinson’s disease.
If so, elevating blood urate could be helpful for
patients with Parkinson’s disease, said Alberto Ascherio, Associate
Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at HSPH and senior author of the
study.
To follow-up on this clue, Ascherio, along with
co-author Michael Schwarzschild, a movement disorder specialist at
Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues at the Parkinson Study
Group, a collaborative group of Parkinson’s disease researchers from the
U.S. and Canada, accessed the databases of two large, randomized studies
conducted among patients with early Parkinson’s disease.
The preliminary results, presented in abstract form
at recent meetings, showed a slower progression of the disease among
individuals with high blood urate.
“It is still uncertain whether urate exerts a
neuroprotective effect, but approaches to elevating urate levels are
nonetheless worth considering as a potential neuroprotective strategy,”
said Ascherio, who is now collaborating with Schwarzschild and others in
the design of a clinical trial in individuals with Parkinson’s disease
to examine this possibility. “But elevating blood urate increases the
risk of kidney stones and may have adverse cardiovascular effects and
should only be attempted in the context of a closely monitored
randomized trial until beneficial effects are proven,” he added.
The study was supported by National Institutes of
Health/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the
Kinetics Foundation and the Intramural Research Program of the National
Institutes of Health/National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences.
“Plasma Urate and Risk of Parkinson’s Disease,” M.
G. Weisskopf, E. O’Reilly, H. Chen, M. A. Schwarzschild and A. Ascherio,
American Journal of Epidemiology, published online June 20, 2007.
To view the abstract:
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/kwm127v1
Harvard School of Public Health states it is
dedicated to advancing the public's health through learning, discovery,
and communication. More than 300 faculty members are engaged in teaching
and training the 900-plus student body in a broad spectrum of
disciplines crucial to the health and well being of individuals and
populations around the world. Programs and projects range from the
molecular biology of AIDS vaccines to the epidemiology of cancer; from
risk analysis to violence prevention; from maternal and children's
health to quality of care measurement; from health care management to
international health and human rights. For more information on the
school visit:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu
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