Senior Health – Parkinson’s Disease and Magnesium

Parkinson’s disease affects over a million Americans. The most common symptoms include tremor or shaking, stiff muscles and achiness, limited movement and difficulty with balance.

A number of reports have identified pesticides as a cause of Parkinson’s disease with in-home exposure to insecticides as carrying the highest risk.(1)

Glutathione is a naturally occurring antioxidant made in all the cells of the body, including neurons, which acts to detoxify the body of certain chemicals. Cells grown in magnesium deficient conditions have lower glutathione levels. Adding free radicals to a low magnesium cell culture causes the level of glutathine to fall rapidly as it is used up, making the cells much more susceptible to free radical damage. Neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock tells us that a fall in cellular glutathione within part of the brain appears to be one of the earliest findings in Parkinson’s disease.(2)

Aluminum can also be a contributing factor in the central nervous system degeneration that occurs with Parkinson’s disease. In one autopsy study, calcium and aluminum were elevated in the brains of victims of Parkinson’s disease as compared to people with normal brains.(3)

Research indicates that ample magnesium will protect brain cells from the damaging effects of aluminum, beryllium, cadmium, lead, mercury and nickel. We also know that low levels of brain magnesium contribute to the deposits of heavy metals in the brain that precipitate Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. It appears that the metals compete with magnesium for entry into the brain cells. If magnesium is low, metals gain access much more readily.

If you eat from aluminum pots, use aluminum-containing antiperspirants, wrap your food in aluminum foil and drink tap water with high aluminum content, the levels of aluminum in your body could overwhelm your magnesium levels and aluminum will be absorbed instead. This may allow for the buildup of aluminum associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Blaylock reports that when scientists study the soil of regions that have high incidence of neurological diseases, they find high levels of aluminum and low levels of magnesium and calcium. The neurons from victims of the disease also show high levels of aluminum and low levels of magnesium.

Magnesium plays a vital role in protecting neurons from the lethal effects of aluminum.(4)

Dementia

Dementia may also be caused by magnesium depletion alone.(5) Several studies show that severe neurological syndromes can result when conditions cause extremely low levels of brain magnesium, such as with the chronic use of diuretics, which millions of people take to control high blood pressure. These conditions can cause seizures, delirium, coma or psychosis which are quickly reversed by administering large doses of intravenous magnesium.

The body’s ability to absorb magnesium declines with age, so at particular risk are elderly people who do not eat an adequate diet and who use drugs that deplete the body’s magnesium. (Studies show that senior citizens take an average six to eight medications regularly.)

References:

1. Nelson L, Pesticides and Parkinson’s Disease, American Academy of Neurology 52^nd Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, April 29-May 6, 2000.

2. Blaylock RL, Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, Health Press, Santa Fe, NM, 1997.

3. Yasui M et a., Calcium, magnesium and aluminum concentrations in Parkinson’s disease. Neurotoxicology, vol. 13, no 3, pp. 593-600, 1992.

4. Durlach J., Diverse applications of magnesium therapy, in Handbook of Metal-Ligand Interactions in Biological Fluids Bioinorganic Medicine, vol. 2., Marcel Dekker, New York, 1995.

5. Blaylock RL, Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, Health Press, Santa Fe, NM, 1997.