There is no one recommended way to eat with Parkinson's disease (PD). A balanced diet full of fruits and vegetables, along the lines of the Mediterranean diet, promotes health and well-being for everyone. The first step in addressing some PD symptoms, like constipation, low blood pressure and swallowing difficulties, involves adjusting your diet.
The dopamine replacement medications (levodopa) is a building block of protein, so it competes for absorption with other proteins in the digestive tract. Taking levodopa with high-protein meals may reduce how much of the drug gets into your system and how well a dose works. If you find your dopamine replacement medications isn't working as well as it used to, try taking the medication half hour before, or an hour after, a meal.
These resources will help you understand the recommended nutritional guidelines for those with PD, and why.
Downloadable Documents | Online Articles | Podcasts & Webinars | Books | Expert-level Resources
25 Foods You Should be Skipping After Age 50, or With PD
Published by Me Over PD, September 4, 2024
This 5-page article (PDF) written by Alison Gwinn for AARP, August 8, 2024, gives specific tips for how to eat healthfully after 50. That means substituting good-for-you foods for those that clog your arteries, raise your blood pressure and risk of diabetes, affect your cognition and expand your waistline. The same guidelines and tips apply to people with Parkinson's Disease (PD) at any age.
Diet and Parkinson’s
Published by Parkinson’s UK, June 2016
This 34-page booklet (PDF) provides some basic healthy eating information, to help you maintain a balanced diet and a healthy weight. It also looks at the diet issues related to Parkinson’s and what you can do to manage these, including constipation, eating and swallowing difficulties, medications and diet, vitamins, food supplements, low blood pressure, food shopping and preparation, dishes and cutlery.
Nutrition and PD
By Heather Zwickey, PhD. Published by the Parkinson's Foundation, 2022
This two-page fact sheet (PDF) lists foods that provide neuroprotection and promote brain health and those that have antiinflammatory properties. Also discussed are dietary and hydration adjustments to improve constipation and urinary issues, sleep and fatigue. Finally, how foods affect PD medication is briefly explained.
Parkinson's Disease: Nutrition Matters
Published by the National Parkinson Foundation (Now the Parkinson's Foundation), Revised 2016
This 70-page booklet (PDF), written by registered dietitian Kathrynne Holden, reviews the importance of nutrition in PD. Chapters discuss protein and levodopa; constipation; water needs; bone health; and unintended weight loss. Recipes and menus are included.
En Español: Enfermedad de Parkinson: La Importancia de la Nutrición
A Complete Parkinson’s Diet Guide
By PFCA Admin. Published by the Parkinson Foundation of the National Capital Area, August 4, 2021
This short blog post offers tips and foods you should consider including in your diet if you have Parkinson’s. Also presented are foods and fad diets to avoid and those to be skeptical of. The information is presented in clear, succinct, nonambiguous terms.
Diet and Nutrition
Published by the Michael J. Fox Foundation
This short web page answers a few questions about diet and Parkinson’s disease including dietary changes to ease Parkinson’s symptoms, how antioxidants help everyone and what foods contain a lot of them, and lava beans contain levodopa, but concentration and availability is likely minimal.
Diet & Nutrition
Published by the Parkinson's Foundation
While there is no prescription for a PD-specific diet, this page lists dietary guidelines for both maintaining overall health and easing PD symptoms. It also discusses dietary challenges specific to Parkinson's disease and tips for getting started when making dietary changes.
Diet & Nutrition in Parkinson's
By Parkinson Society British Columbia, November 2020
In this excellent 49-minute talk, Dr. Laura Mischley shares what she's learned in her research on the habits of people with Parkinson's and the trajectory of their disease progression and dementia. She makes specific diet (including supplements and medications), exercise, sleep, social health, and light therapy recommendations.
Diet and Parkinson’s
By Parkinson’s South Australia, September 26, 2016
This 42-minute lecture reviews the basics of a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight, the importance of protein in a healthy diet separated from the timing of taking levodopa. The symptom management section includes tips for: proper nutrition with nausea and vomiting, excess saliva or dry mouth, bowels/constipation issues. An occupational therapist can help with meal preparation if tremors interfere. If you have swallowing difficulty ask your neurologist for a swallowing evaluation, speech therapist and dietitian can help.
Eating Well With Parkinson’s Disease
By the Michael J. Fox Foundation, January 16, 2020
In this 1-hour webinar a panel of experts discusses what we know about how diet impacts Parkinson’s symptoms and medication effectiveness as well as where indulgences like wine, coffee, travel and celebrations fit into a healthy diet. Questions from listeners are answered.
Webinar notes on the Stanford PD Community Blog
Food, Water, & Supplements: Does Nutrition Play a Role in PD Symptoms or Progression?
By the Parkinson’s Foundation, March 17, 2020
In this 1-hour webinar Dr. Laurie Mischley describes diets associated with the risk of developing PD and evidence nutrition plays a role after diagnosis. The risks and benefits of popular diets are reviewed as well as obstacles to eating (loss of smell, lack of appetite, constipation, etc.). Convenient, cost-effective, healthy dietary suggestions are provided. Calorie restriction, intermittent fasting, and the role of dietary supplements are discussed. [Registration is required, but is free.]
The Ideal Parkinson's Diet: Strategies From a Certified Dietician
By Parkinson's Community Los Angeles, July 31, 2021
In this 1-hour webinar registered dietitian Jelena Etemovic, MS, RD shares what she learned in researching a cookbook for people with Parkinson's Disease. Recipes in the cookbook are high in antioxidents and omega-3 fatty acids to combate oxidative stress and neuroinflammation with are associated with the loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain. She also talks about the relationship between carbidopa-levodopa and protein, managing constipation, preventing weight loss and regaining weight, and muscle aches and cramping.
Nutrition and Parkinson's
By the Davis Phinney Foundation, April 2, 2021
In this 38-minute question and answer session two women with Parkinson's, Edie Anderson and retired registered dietitian Marty Acevedo, discuss the basics of nutrition and Parkinson's Disease. Edie begins by asking Marty some of her own questions. The last 10 minutes are questions from listeners and a personal account of how Edie lives well with PD.
Nutrition and Parkinson’s
By the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation (Now the Parkinson's Foundation), September 12, 2017
In this 69-minute audio with slides Dr. John Duda shares specific foods that are neuroprotective, and have anti-inflammatory or antioxidant properties. She explains where toxins collect in foods, so you know where to choose organics without overspending. She discusses the effect of diet on medication uptake and Parkinson’s disease symptoms.
Nutrition and Parkinson’s Disease
By Brian Grant Foundation, 2022
In this 1-hour webinar movement disorders specialist Delaram Safarpour, MD, explains that reducing inflammation can reduce PD symptoms, and how to take your medications with respect to diet, maximizing medication effectiveness. She also talks about weight gain and loss, causes of swallowing issues and how to eat safely. She provides general rules for what to eat and what to avoid, (and why), including hydration and constipation strategies. Lastly, there is a Q&A.
Nutrition and Parkinson’s Disease
By Parkinson’s Canada, May 23, 2017
In this 1-hour webinar registered dietitian Nicole Shuckett talks about what constitutes a healthy diet, nutrition-related symptoms of PD (weight changes, GI issues, dysphasia, drug-nutrient interactions, and bone thinning), management of nutrition-related symptoms of PD, and the link between protein and L-Dopa.
Nutrition and Parkinson’s Disease
By the Parkinson’s Foundation, September 15, 2015
In this 1-hour webinar Dr. Heather Zwickey shares foods that are neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, antioxidants and increase serum rate, and discusses medications and food, nutrition and symptoms, weight gain and loss.
Parkinson’s Nutrition & Living Well
By the Davis Phinney Foundation, November 6, 2019
In this 1-hour webinar Dr. John Eric Duda discusses how dietary choices can affect symptom control in PD, how particular foods and timing of meals may interfere with PD medications, dietary management of some non-motor symptoms, the role of the gut microbiome in PD, how nutrition can change the molecular mechanisms present in people with PD and even provide disease-modifying effects, and more. Registration is required, but it is free.
Eat Well, Stay Well with Parkinson’s Disease: A Nutrition Handbook for People with Parkinson’s
By Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD. Published by Five Star Living, Inc., 1998, 156 pages
This book, written by a registered dietician and PD professional, includes recipes and menus specific to the needs of those with PD - especially those who may be working to coordinate meals with medication timing, nausea, constipation, weight loss, protein timing and more.
Check your local library, or inquire at any bookstore.
Cook Well, Stay Well with Parkinson’s Disease: Super Foods for Super People
By Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD. Published by Five Star Living, Inc., 2003, 211 pages
This book, written by a registered dietician and PD professional, features popular recipes, that are rich in the nutrients most needed by those living with PD.
Check your local library, or inquire at any bookstore.
The Emerging Role of Nutrition in Parkinson’s Disease
By Stacey E. Seidl, et. al. Published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, March 7, 2014
This article reviews and summarizes studies that have addressed the role nutrition plays in both neuroprotection and neurodegeneration. Epidemiological and biochemical studies suggest that inclusion or exclusion of certain food groups may elicit neuroprotection (those containing omega-3, vegetables, fruits, carotenoids, genistein, tea, caffeine, resveratrol) or neurodegeneration (milk). Foods containing MUFA, PUFA, saturated fat, vitamin C, D, and E, riboflavin, carbohydrates, and meat have conflicting results and need to be studied further.
Last updated January 2024 by Stanford Parkinson's Community Outreach.
