Summary: A new study reports Parkinson’s disease and some of the medications used to treat the condition have distinct effects on the bacteria that make up the gut microbiome.

Source: University of Alabama at Birmingham.

There is growing evidence showing a connection between Parkinson’s disease — a neurodegenerative condition — and the composition of the microbiome of the gut. A new study from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham shows that Parkinson’s disease, and medications to treat Parkinson’s, have distinct effects on the composition of the trillions of bacteria that make up the gut microbiome.

The findings were published in February in Movement Disorders, the journal of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

“Our study showed major disruption of the normal microbiome ¬ — the organisms in the gut — in individuals with Parkinson’s,” said Haydeh Payami, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Neurology, in the…