Parkinson's Disease Remedies

Some ways that Malassezia or other fungi could potentially get into the brain are:

- medical procedures/treatments, such as surgery w/ anesthesia, CT scans of the head (radiation can affect the blood brain barrier temporarily), use of IV drugs (legal or illegal) esp. IV antibiotics or IV lipids;

- spinal tap: if Malassezia is present in (not just on) the skin, a tap could theoretically push yeast into the CSF;

- presence of other infections known to have the ability to cross the blood brain barrier, such as Lyme disease

Consider the following points:

(a) Malassezia is an unusual yeast in that it is lipophilic (meaning it feeds on lipids rather than sugars/starches like candida). AND it seeks melanin & infects melanocytes. The dopaminergic neurons in the brain -- the area affected by PD -- contains high levels of neuromelanin. Neuromelanin in turn has an affinity for lipids and for iron, both of which favor the growth of this yeast. Note: because it feeds on lipids rather than sugars, it will NOT grow in the usual fungal cultures performed in hospitals (they use sugar/starches in the medium, no lipids). So it is "under the radar" in the sense that there seems to be little testing ever done for it.

(b) Malassezia is known to infect melanocytes in the skin... and I suspect it is involved in causing skin cancer. If so, this would explain the higher rate of skin cancer found in Parkinson's. Also, because it is in the skin (IN, not only "on"), it could hypothetically be pushed into the bloodstream or spinal fluid by medical procedures like injections or spinal taps.

(c) L-DOPA is a precursor to MELANIN, so it makes sense that Malassezia might take it up ... thereby reducing the amount available for normal brain functioning. Low L-DOPA is a key feature of PD.

(d) Acetaldehyde -- produced by yeast -- converts dopamine into a neurotoxin called salsalinol ... which may cause the eventual aptosis of dopaminergic neurons. It also promotes increased iron content and the release of iron, both of which would favor fungal growth.

(e) Malassezia is extremely common and extremely slow-growing. It may be that people have it for decades or a lifetime. I speculate that risk factors for developing PD might include: prolonged use of antibiotics (esp. intravenous) or steroids/immunosuppressants, depleted flora from any other source including packaged foods which contain additives or may be irradiated to remove flora, accumulative lifetime exposure to UV radiation, including sunlight, medical procedures like CT scans et al; eating a lot of oleic acid (vegetable oils including olive oil are the primary culprit here, but also animal fats), high cholesterol/triglycerides, PRN lipid therapy, taking Vit D or iron, use of certain psych meds like antipsychotics that increase lipids. Meds that cause photosensitivity (= less resistance to UV radiation) might be another area of concern.

If my hypothesis is correct, there are definite implications for prevention steps and maybe also treatment. Some possibilities that come to mind are increasing dietary sulfur (antifungal), increasing "good" flora, avoidance of risk factors including dietary veg. oil/animal fat, etc. Based on my reading, buckwheat also contains an antifungal compound. Whether such steps would have an effect, I don't know. More research is clearly needed.