Bananas & PD

[rayilynlee <rayilynlee@xxxxxxx>]

I found this in a political blog - OpEd,, Ray

Do Bananas Do a Brain Good?

Grab a banana and say bye-bye to Parkinson's disease? Researchers say it
could be so.

Bananas are rich in vitamin B6 -- and very early research suggests that high
levels of B6 may protect against Parkinson's. Still, the news is not
something to go bananas over just yet. The benefit applied only to smokers
in the most recent study. But bananas and B6 do your body good in many other
ways. Here's an example . . .
RealAge Benefit: Consuming 4 milligrams of vitamin B6 per day from food or
supplements can make your RealAge as much as 1 year younger.

RealAge Smart Search: Learn more about the health benefits of bananas with
these hand-selected search results.
More about this tip

Vitamin B6 -- along with folate and B12 -- helps reduce levels of
homocysteine, an amino acid. That's good for your ticker, because too much
homocysteine in the blood appears to up heart disease risk.

Homocysteine also appears to be toxic to nerve cells, and elevated levels
have been linked to Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurological disorder
that causes muscles to become rigid and shake uncontrollably.

Could B vitamins be the answer? Among nearly 5,000 people studied recently,
smokers whose B6 intake was highest were 50 percent less likely to develop
the brain disorder over a nearly 10-year period, compared to smokers who
consumed the least amount of the vitamin. And although all three members of
the nutrient trio help lower homocysteine, only B6 intake -- not folate or
B12 -- translated into reduced rates of Parkinson's, suggesting the B
vitamin may lower disease risk by some mechanism unrelated to the lowering
of homocysteine.

What's smoking got to do with it? Oddly enough, nicotine may actually
protect nerve cells in some way, and B6 may help out in that process.

Of course, that's no reason to light up. But it might be a good reason to
peel a banana. Here's another way that bananas can do a body good . . .
Originally published on 01/2/2007.

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