My Theory on Parkinsons Disease

It is my opinion that Parkinsons is related to, but is in some ways the opposite of dementia (in which "plaque" forms over the dendrite connections to neurons in the brain).  There is a certain healthy amount of sheathing that must be present over the neuroreceptors that can wear away with age, thereby causing oversensitivity to surrrounding/nearby firings of "correct", determininstic neural pathways.  For example, one neuron wants to send a message/signal to a certain nearby neuron. Surrounding neurons, whose dendrite sheathings have been eroded also pick up portions of this directed signal as "noise" and cause the characteristic tremours. There is also the issue of the electrolytic medium through which dendrites send their messages to one another (called "cerebrospinal fluid").  It is my contention that folks that have an excessive amount of salt in their diets wind up with an excessively saline electrolytic solution in their brain and therefore, if you remember high school physics, a highly saline solution conducts electricity VERY efficiently.  In the case of Parkinsons, TOO efficiently and the same syndrome appears wherein not just the intended dendrite/neuron recieves the "directed" message but surrounding ones receive it as well, again as partial signals or "noise" causing the characteristic tremours. So, two "ways" to have Parkinsons-like symptoms: a) a wearing away of the dendrite coatings or b) highly saline cerebrospinal fluid. Nine times out of ten, if you see someone with a parkinsons-like tremour in a restaurant, you will see them salting their food.  It is a very strong correlation. If your dad indeed had Parkinsons and was not one of these "salty" types, then perhaps something in his diet or just simple genetics caused a "wearing away" of these normal dendrite sheathings. For what it's worth, it has been strongly correlated that dementia, caused by the "plaque" formation over dendrites, has been tied to having Teflon in your diet; which of course comes to us by way of using Teflon pans and small bits coming off in our food.  So if you want to avoid dementia, toss the teflon pans.   I have no information as to what items in a persons diet might cause the "wearing away" of normal dendrite sheathings but will work on some ideas. -shannon norrell