A Nutritional Appraisal of Parkinson’s Disease

Dear Colleagues,

Parkinsonism is now understood to be a systemic neurodegenerative disorder that typically begins with non-motor symptoms decades prior to diagnosis. First described more than two centuries ago, PD prevention and disease modification remain elusive. The gastrointestinal tract and enteric nervous system are affected early, and a growing body of evidence suggests that certain foods, supplements, and/or diets may play a role in PD incidence and progression. Clinically, malnutrition is common and associated with worse outcomes, but standards for screening, treating, and monitoring nutritional status in patients with PD are lacking. Compared to novel molecules, dietary intervention studies and readily available nutraceuticals face unique challenges in study design, packaging, patentability, delivery, and adoption. This Special Issue will be curated to catalyze conversations about the role of nutritional deficiencies in PD onset and progression and identify candidate nutrients, foods, and special diets with the greatest potential therapeutic value.

Manuscripts (review and original research) on the following topics are of particular interest:

• Clinical evaluation of nutritional status in PD, such as weight loss, sarcopenia, etc.
• Biomarkers of nutritional status and PD outcomes, such as vitamin B12, homocysteine, hsCRP, HbA1c, etc.
• Intestinal health, microbiome perturbations, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), and measures of mucosal health, intestinal permeability, inflammation, and enteric synuclein aggregation.
• Dietary environmental insults, such as pesticides on food, the role of molecular mimicry, lactose intolerance, aspartame, canned food, etc.
• Drug–nutrient interactions, such as dietary protein, B6, folate, B12, etc.
• Do single nutrient deficiencies contribute to the development of Parkinsonism?
• Can diet or nutrient augmentation improve PD outcomes?

Healthcare delivery—strategies for improving neurology–dietician relationships, providing nutrition education for providers, involving families, culture-specific considerations to dietary intervention, etc.

Dr. Laurie K. Mischley
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• epidemiology
• sarcopenia
• weight loss
• vitamin
• mineral
• coenzyme Q-10
• glutathione
• fish oil
• MIND
• Mediterranean diet