By David Ponsonby, Contributing Author, who's Father had Parkinson's Disease*
In comparison to other animals, especially cows, the human anatomy has been likened to a simple tube, eat it at one end and excrete it from the other. In PD, of course, both of these function may be seriously compromised. It places an additional emphasis on the actual food chain. The hospital may have a wonderfully planned meal. Unfortunately, there are losses in nutrients in food preparation and further negatives between being served and reaching the patient. How much will the patient actually consume? Will he or she eat the mustard, for example. What's left on the plate can be significant.
Even then, the bottom line becomes not just what's ingested but digested and absorbed. We are currently in an exciting period of appreciating more about the absorption of nutrients from our food. Some aspects are especially featured with PD. A Person with Parkinson's (PWP) typically has dental issues, salivary issues, swallowing difficulties, probably H. pylori, probably methylation disabilities, an imbalanced microbiome and slow transit, resulting in nutrient deficiencies, together with multi-drug interactions along the way. Hinz diagrammed some 29 interactions and barely scratched the surface. Unsuspectingly, those who shop and cook their own meals may provide the added edge.
Ordinarily, we might attribute a great part of appetite to smell but this may be yet another deficit in most PWPs.
*David's Dad had Parkinson's in the 1990's before he unfortunately died of cancer. David has done considerable independent research and searched the world for a non-drug based solution.