Association between major dietary patterns and Parkinson’s disease risk: a case–control study

There has been emerging attention to investigate the possible role of some dietary factors in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD); however, evidence about the relationship between dietary components and the risk of PD is limited. The aim of this study was to determine the association between major dietary patterns and the risk of PD.

This case–control study was performed on 105 patients with newly diagnosed PD and 215 healthy controls. Diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease was made based on the UK Brain Bank criteria. Usual dietary intakes were collected by a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Dietary patterns were detected by principal component analysis.

Four dietary patterns, including traditional, healthy, western, and light dietary patterns, were identified. After considering all potential confounders, individuals with the highest tertile of traditional dietary pattern scores had a lower risk of PD than those with the lowest tertile (OR: 0.002; 95% CI: 0.000–0.016). A similar inverse association between the healthy pattern (OR: 0.314; 95% CI: 0.131–0.750) and light pattern (OR: 0.282; 95% CI: 0.121–0.654) and risk of PD was revealed. In contrast, adherence to the western dietary pattern was associated with PD incidence (OR: 7.26; 95% CI: 2.76–19.09).

The findings of this study suggest that adherence to western dietary pattern could increase the risk of PD by approximately seven times. However, the traditional, healthy, and light dietary patterns had an inverse relationship with PD risk.