Daily Brief

With all of the research these days pointing to the connection of the Gut and the Brain this was an interesting study I read today:

A recent large research study found that Parkinsons's Disease seems to first manifest itself in the Gut and then through the Gut-Brain connection begins to affect the Brain and manifests itself there. The way that this happens is through the Vagus Nerve. 

The study followed patients who had their Vagus nerve severed which apparently is a treatment for ulcers (I would have tried diet and Chiropractic first to remove interference on the nerve). The vagus nerve controls the heart, lungs, and digestive tract and when over stimulated causes a host of problems. 

Here is what the researchers said: 

“Our study shows that patients who have had the the entire vagus nerve severed were protected against Parkinson’s disease. However, patients who had only had a small part of the vagus nerve severed where not protected. This also fits the hypothesis that the disease process is strongly dependent on a fully or partially intact vagus nerve to be able to reach and affect the brain, Patients with Parkinson’s disease are often constipated many years before they receive the diagnosis, which may be an early marker of the link between neurologic and gastroenterologic pathology related to the vagus nerve”