Category: Other
Objective: To investigate the effect of the adequate hydration with personalized diet on bowel function, motor function, and global function in PwP’s on LCIG.
Background: Levodopa (LD) response in Parkinson’s (PD) becomes fluctuating after 5-10 years, partly due to slow gastric emptying, which is avoided with LCIG. However, neutral amino acids compete with LD for gut absorption and blood-brain transport. Dietary interventions to improve bowel function may improve motor fluctuations through better gut absorption.
Method: We prospectively recruited nine consecutive people with Parkinson (PwP’s) treated with LCIG attending a tertiary movement disorders clinic and trained them to improve their diet with adequate hydration and on-going Parkinson dietician specialist support. Hauser diary, extra-doses (ED), Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire 39 (PDQ39), Clinical Global Impression scale (CGI) for patients, physician and care partner, bowel frequency (BF), and stool consistency (SC) were measured by blinded raters at baseline and after 3 weeks of the dietary intervention.
Results: Improvements were seen with dietary intervention versus baseline in PDQ mobility (34.9±8.9 vs. 31.9±7.8, p<0.05), CGI by patient and care-partner (p<0.01 and p<0.05 respectively), BF (4.1±2.5 vs. 7.0±5.5 times/wk, p<0.05), SC (1.4±0.9 vs. 2.0±0.7, p<0.05, 1=very hard, 3=normal), and there was a trend for improved OFF-time (4.5±2.3 vs. 4.0±2.9h) and extra doses (4.7±2.4 vs. 3.5±2.3).
Conclusion: Our study supports that dietary intervention improves constipation, global function, and mobility. Larger studies are needed to confirm these findings and test more sensitively whether dietary interventions also improve motor function in PwP’s on LCIG.
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To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Y. Ben Mordechai, S. Israeli-Korn, O. Cohen, S. Hassin-Baer. Adequate hydration with personalized diet improves bowel function and mobility for people with Parkinson’s (PwP’s) on levodopa/carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) infusion therapy [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2023; 38 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/adequate-hydration-with-personalized-diet-improves-bowel-function-and-mobility-for-people-with-parkinsons-pwps-on-levodopa-carbidopa-intestinal-gel-lcig-infusion-therapy/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to 2023 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/adequate-hydration-with-personalized-diet-improves-bowel-function-and-mobility-for-people-with-parkinsons-pwps-on-levodopa-carbidopa-intestinal-gel-lcig-infusion-therapy/