A library of Parkinson’s research, read at machine scale
A publication about Parkinson’s disease research: notes and explainers drawn from the published literature, with sources shown for every piece.
Writing
Explainers drawn from that corpus. Every claim carries the source it came from, so any of it can be checked against the paper rather than taken on trust.
Is there a blood test for Parkinson's yet?
There is currently no blood test available to diagnose Parkinson's disease. While laboratory research into blood-based proteins shows promise, clinical diagnosis remains entirely subjective and is highly prone to errors.
Why does Parkinson's make you lose your sense of smell, and how early does it start?
While smell loss occurs early in up to 90 per cent of Parkinson's cases, it does not track disease progression post-diagnosis, and clinical screening remains hampered by high study bias and conflicting brain-imaging data.
What are the earliest signs of Parkinson's, years before a tremor?
While non-motor symptoms like smell loss, sleep disorders, and constipation can predate Parkinson's by decades, they are too common to serve as reliable standalone predictors, and no current therapy can stop the disease's progression.
Is there a cure for Parkinson's coming, and how close is it?
Current clinical evidence shows no approved cure or disease-modifying therapy exists for Parkinson's disease, as major trials for repurposed drugs and antibodies have repeatedly failed to slow progression.
Does coffee protect against Parkinson's?
While drinking coffee is linked to a lower risk of getting Parkinson's, clinical trials show that caffeine tablets fail to improve motor symptoms, do not slow disease progression, and may slightly worsen cognition.
Does acting out your dreams mean you will get Parkinson's?
Acting out dreams is strongly linked to future brain conditions, but clinical trials show that a Parkinson's diagnosis is not inevitable, diagnostic methods are often weak, and no current therapies can stop or delay the disease.
Do stem cell transplants work for Parkinson's?
Clinical evidence does not settle whether stem cell transplants improve movement or slow Parkinson's disease. Most completed trials are extremely small and lack comparison groups, and larger trials show conflicting or placebo-driven results.
Do pesticides cause Parkinson's?
While some population studies show a statistical link between occupational pesticide exposure and Parkinson's disease, the evidence is weakened by recall errors, publication bias, and a complete lack of post-diagnosis progression data.
Can Ozempic or other GLP-1 drugs slow Parkinson's?
No clinical trials show that semaglutide slows Parkinson's. While some smaller trials of older diabetes drugs showed modest movement benefits, the largest and longest trial found no benefit at all.
Which foods should people with Parkinson's avoid?
Clinical trials do not support strict food bans for Parkinson's disease. Protein and iron can block levodopa absorption, but blanket restrictions on dairy, protein, or tyramine are unsupported by high-quality evidence.
Does exercise slow Parkinson's disease?
Clinical trials show exercise improves movement and fitness in Parkinson's disease, but no study proves it stops dopamine neurons from dying or slows the underlying biological condition.
How long do people live with Parkinson's?
Search this question and you get confident numbers that disagree with each other. The largest review of the evidence explains why — and the explanation is more useful than any single figure.
Is Parkinson's hereditary?
Family history is the single strongest known risk factor for Parkinson's. It is also, for most people, a small absolute risk. Both of those are true, and the gap between them is where most of the confusion lives.
What comes before Parkinson's, and how many years before
The usual article gives you ten early signs as a checklist. One study followed people through the years before diagnosis and put the signs in order — which is a more useful thing to know, and a more unsettling one.
Does a higher levodopa dose bring on wearing off sooner?
Dyskinesia and wearing off are usually named in the same breath as "levodopa complications". On the evidence they answer to different things: dose tracks one of them and not the other.
What exercise has been shown to do, and what it hasn't
Exercise is the one thing everyone in Parkinson's agrees on. The evidence that it helps symptoms is genuinely good. The evidence for the claim people most want to make about it — that it slows the disease — is a trial that has not reported yet.
Does starting levodopa early make Parkinson's worse?
A twenty-year worry about levodopa — that starting it early hastens the disease or uses up its benefit — has now been tested directly in two randomised trials. Neither found what the worry predicted.
Sections
- Understanding Parkinson’sWhat the disease is and what is known about it: causes, the signs that come first, how it is diagnosed, and how it moves.
- TreatmentsWhat the evidence shows about the drugs, the therapies and the surgery — including where it shows less than is usually claimed.
- Living with Parkinson’sExercise, daily life and the things people are told to do, weighed against what has actually been measured.
- ResearchWhere the field is going: what is being tested, what has just reported, and what it would take to change practice.