What are the best science-based supplements to slow down or improve Parkinson’s disease?
Currently, many websites advise supplements that will have little or no benefit for Parkinson’s disease, such as calcium, vitamin A, or whey protein.
On this page, we aim to provide the best supplements to reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease, or slow its progression.
1. PEA (palmitoylethanolamide)
PEA is a fatty acid naturally found in our bodies. Cells increase the production of this fatty acid to protect themselves against damage and inflammation.
PEA binds to an important transcription factor (PPAR-alpha) which regulates the expression of many genes involved in cell protection, damage repair, and reduction of inflammation.
PEA can also induce neurogenesis (the regeneration of neurons) (R,R).
Hundreds of scientific studies have been done with PEA in rodents, showing PEA to be able to protect the brain in various neurodegenerative diseases.
For example, in mice with Parkinson’s disease, regular intake of PEA improved motor and behavioural outcomes (R,R,R).
PEA has been shown to have neuroprotective effects in Alzheimer’s disease (R,R,R).
In humans, PEA improved non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease patients (R).
In patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), PEA can help to improve frontal lobe function, and reduce behavioral disturbances (R).
In patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), PEA improved memory and cognitive function compared to standard therapy, increasing mobility and independence post-injury (R).
In stroke patients, PEA improved neurological status and cognitive impairment and memory (R).
A small study with just one patient demonstrated considerable improvement for ALS (R), while another study with one Parkinson patient also showed improvement of camptocormia, in which the spine is bent forwards (R).
Learn more about PEA and Parkinson’s disease here.
2. Low-dose lithium and Parkinson’s disease
Lithium is a mineral found in rocks, which seep into rivers and lakes and so our drinking water. Lithium has shown to have various neuroprotective effects. It can also extend lifespan in various organisms (R,R,R).
In clinical trials in humans, it has been shown to reduce the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (R,R,R), but it’s important the trials last long enough (ideally, 6 months or longer).
Lithium can exert health effects in various different ways, for example by upregulating (neuro)protective genes. It can also induce autophagy, the process by which cells recycle world or damaged components.
Learn more about lithium and Parkinson’s disease here.
3. Rhodiola rosea and Parkinson’s disease
Rhodiola rosea is a plant that has been used for thousands of years to improve cognition and resilience.
Rhodiola has been shown to extend lifespan in multiple species, including yeast (R), Caenorhabditis elegans worms (R), and fruit flies (R, R,R, R).
Rhodiola rosea exerts its life-extending and neuroprotective effects via various mechanisms, for example by increasing the production of protective proteins in cells, such as chaperone proteins (R), SIRT1, and AMPK (R).
Rhodiola can also improve autophagy, which is the process that breaks down cell components which would otherwise accumulate and hinder proper cell function. Autophagy declines during aging and also in various neurodegenerative diseases.
Rhodiola contains salidroside and rosavin, which can induce neuroregeneration (R,R).
Learn more about Rhodiola and Parkinson’s disease here.
4. Vitamin D and Parkinson's disease
Vitamin D is a vitamin that plays important roles in the body, including in the brain.
For example, vitamin D activates transcription factors, which are proteins that regulate the activity of hundreds of genes.
Vitamin D reduced neurotoxicity in a rodent model of Parkinson’s disease (R).
Significantly more Parkinson’s patients are deficient in vitamin D compared to the general population (R).
Higher vitamin D levels in the blood are associated with a reduced risk of getting Parkinson’s disease.
In a study that followed more than 3,000 patients, people with the highest vitamin D levels (highest quartile or 25%) were 67% less likely to get Parkinson’s disease compared to people with the lowest levels of the vitamin (lowest quartile) (R).
5. Melatonin and Parkinson's disease
Melatonin is a substance naturally found in the body. It is secreted by the brain in the evening to make people feel tired. As we age, less melatonin is produced.
Melatonin has a unique antioxidant structure, making it a powerful and efficient antioxidant (compared to standard antioxidants). It also has anti-inflammatory and epigenetic effects.
Besides its potential to improve sleep in Parkinson’s patients, it could also protect the brain.
Various studies show that melatonin can counteract neurodegeneration in rodents with Parkinson’s disease (R,R).
It’s recommended to take extended-release melatonin, which is absorbed less quickly into the blood than standard melatonin, enabling more gradual, longer-sustained levels in the blood during the night.
The dose of melatonin should also not be too high. Often, too high doses of melatonin are sold in stores (e.g. 5 mg or even 30 mg of melatonin). This causes melatonin peaks in the blood that are unnaturally high. Take a maximum of 1 to 2 mg (1,000 to 2,000 micrograms) of melatonin 30 minutes before bedtime.
However, given that melatonin inhibits the production of dopamine, it is possible that in some patients melatonin can make them feel more stiff or cause other side-effects, especially when they took a high dose of melatonin the night before which still “lingers on” in the morning.
6. B vitamins for Parkinson's disease
B vitamins play very important roles in our body, being cofactors to enzymes that are involved in hundreds of biochemical reactions.
This means these enzymes need B vitamins to work properly.
Especially the brain, which is metabolically very active, needs B vitamins to function properly.
B vitamins are vitamin B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9/11 (folate) and B12.
Parkinson’s patients are often low on B vitamins (R).
Additionally, given many Parkinson’s patients take levodopa, they require even more B vitamins, given levodopa is metabolized by COMT, an enzyme that requires vitamin B6, folic acid and B12 to function properly (R).
Adding a complex of high quality, different B vitamins, even in patients who do not have “deficiencies” can support brain health.
However, most vitamin B supplements are low quality, containing the wrong forms or doss of B vitamins.
For example, they contain folic acid, and not folate, which is the same form as occurs in nature.
Or they contain pyridoxine as vitamin B6. More recent studies show that even low levels of vitamin B6 (even lower than 10 milligrams per day) could, especially in the long term, actually damage neurons.
7. Omega-3 fatty acids and Parkinson's disease
Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to have brain protective effects, and improve brain health and aging (R).
Omega-3 fatty acids improve outcomes in rodent models of Parkinson’s disease (R).
In one study, giving Parkinson patients 1,000 of omega-3 fatty acids per day led to a significant improvement on the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) (R). In this study, also vitamin E was given. However, given that vitamin E didn’t impact Parkinson’s progression in other studies, it could be likely that the positive effect was mainly caused by the omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-3 fatty acids could also improve depression in Parkinson’s patients (R).
Omega-3 can improve brain health by many mechanisms (R,R), such as:
- Reducing inflammation
- Being precursors to neuroprotectin D1, which protects brain cells and enhances the synthesis of brain-derived neurotrophic factor
- Promoting neurogenesis and neurite outgrowth.
Omega-3 fatty acids are also important components of the membranes of the brain cells.
Omega-3 fatty acids reduce (neuro)inflammation. As the brain gets older, and in Parkinson’s disease, there is increased inflammation in the brain.
Unfortunately, most omega-3 fatty acid supplements are low quality, in the sense that they are too oxidized.
Make sure to take high-quality, low-oxidized (low TOTOX) omega-3 fatty acids.
8. Probiotics and Parkinson’s disease
As explained here, the gut microbiome plays an important role in Parkinson’s disease. People with Parkinson’s have more unhealthy bacteria in their gut, which could increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease, or accelerate its progression, while Parkinson patients have less beneficial bacteria that could mitigate the disease.
However, one should be careful which probiotic to take. For example, most probiotics contain lactobacillus. Some studies show that people with Parkinson’s have high levels of lactobacillus.
Therefore, it’s important for people with Parkinson’s to take supplements without lactobacillus, and with other, beneficial bacteria, such as Bifidobacterium (R).
