By David Liu, PHD

Sunday July 15, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Your doctors may not know what cause Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, two major brain disorders that often strike older people.  If they can tell you something, they may tell you some unmodifiable risk factors such as family history and genetics etc, leaving you hopeless.

The fact is, there are many things everyone can do to reduce their risk for Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.   J. Campdelacreu of Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, España published a review in the June 13, 2012 issue of Neurologia saying there are some environmental risk factors that are known to be associated with risk of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Evidence is strong according to the report that higher risk for Parkinson's disease is associated with exposure to pesticides, and higher risk for Alzheimer's disease is associated with exposure to pesticides, hypertension or high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels in middle age, hyperhomocysteinaemia, smoking, traumatic brain injury and depression. (Editor's note:  Depression should be viewed as a symptom but not a cause or risk factor. Depression often has something to do with chronic health conditions including vitamin D deficiency).

There is weak evidence that Parkinson's disease is associated with high milk consumption in men, high iron intake (meaning high intake of red meat among other things), chronic anaemia and traumatic brain injury while higher risk of Alzheimer's is associated with high aluminum intake through drinking water, excessive exposure to electromagnetic fields from electrical grids, diabetes mellitus, hyperinsulinaemia, obesity in middle age, excessive alcohol drinking, and chronic anaemia.

Lower risk of Parkinson's disease is associated with huperuricaemia, tobacco use and coffee drinking while lower risk of Alzheimer's disease is associated with moderate alcohol consumption, physical exercise, perimenopausal hormone replacement therapy and good cognitive reserve.

Weak evidence suggests vitamin E intake, alcohol, tea, NSAIDs and vigorous physical activity may help reduce risk of Parkinson's while the Mediterranean diet, coffee and habitual use of NSAIDs may help cut risk of Alzheimer's.

Some factors such as drinking alcohol  although linked to a lower risk for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's may not be applied to cut your risk for these diseases because they are known risk factors for other health conditions.  Alcohol beverages are human carcinogens and can increase cancer risk, for instance.