Parkinson's Disease Related to Food and Nutrition: What We Learned

Introduction

Healthcare systems around the world are seriously challenged by a growing prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), which mostly, but not exclusively, affect the ever-growing population of the elderly (Milosevic et al., 2021). Ageing and age-related diseases over the time are considered as multidimensional mechanism manifested by degradation of biological function, which in the meantime confers susceptibility to different diseases (Pambu et al., 2022).

Numerous studies have focused on the decryption of the hallmarks of aging to identify potential therapeutic targets for mitigating the aging process. These hallmarks of aging included stem cell exhaustion, altered intercellular communication, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, cellular senescence, genetic instability and recently deregulated nutrient sensing and synaptic dysfunction epigenetic deregulation (Pambu et al., 2022; Shannon et al., 2021; Di et al., 2021 and Hampel et al., 2021).In eukaryotes, the physiological mechanisms and cellular mechanisms of aging are conserved (Stuart, 2007). Several distinct mechanisms underlying this process have been reported. Kenyon et al., in 1993, have reported that genetic screening and naturally occurring mutations have helped to identify hundreds of genes involved in different pathways that affect aging. Among these pathway insulin/IGF-1 insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) signalling, target of Rapamycin (TOR) signalling, Autophagy pathway, Mitochondrial respiration signalling pathway, and Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) pathways (Kenyon et al., 1993).

The progressive degradation of biological function observed in aging process, in neuronal cells, lead to severe memory and behavioural impairment and loss of movement control making NDD the major cause of disability and morbidity among older people worldwide (Juan and Adlard, 2019). The most common NDDs are Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), multiple sclerosis (MS), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but some viral infections of the brain and traumatic brain injury may also cause NDD. Moreover, a significant proportion of the older population is affected by “age-related cognitive decline,” which is independent of dementia and has an incidence 70% higher than dementia alone (Milosevic et al., 2021; Juan and Adlard, 2019).

These phenotypes of aging can be modified to increase longevity and to prevent or to delay the onset and/or to ameliorate the clinical course of neurodegeneration (Partridge et al., 2020). There is increasing evidence demonstrating thatlifestyle factors such as regular exercise and healthier dietary patterns, balanced in macro- and micro-nutrients more recently in antioxidant, influence ageing progression and can also have beneficial effects on brain health and cognitive functions (Milosevic et al., 2021).Therefore, as reported by several researchers, nutrition constitutes a crucial factor in the efficient clinical care of people with age-related cognitive-decline and motor impairment (Dominguez et al., 2012; Shah, 2013, Hu et al., 2013; Bailey and Arab, 2012). Moreover, several reviews have described that nutrition affects brain structure and function throughout life (Georgieff et al., 2018; Vauzour, 2017; Spencer et al., 2017; Gomez and Gomez, 2011). Accordingly, studies have proved significant beneficial effects of the administration of antioxidant molecules, in promoting the lifespan extension of multiple model organisms.