Through a latest study, researchers suggest that people who take ibuprofen on regular basis have diminished their risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. One person in every five hundred has Parkinson’s. People with the condition do not have enough chemical known as dopamine as some nerves in their brain have died.
This causes the archetypal symptoms of tremor, rigidity and slowness of movements. Ibuprofen is normally used to relieve pain and aches, but the recent study found that it had an added benefits. The study of more than one lakh and thirty-five thousand males and females who regularly used ibuprofen showed that they were forty percent less prone to develop Parkinson’s.
For some time experts were alleged that anti-inflammatory drugs might shield against the condition but it was not clear which ones in the family of NSAIDs- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs provided a benefit. The latest study proposes that it is only the ibuprofen that has an effect.
However, similar to other NSAIDs, ibuprofen can cause distressing side effects such as raise risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. The intake of ibuprofen daily for some years was also associated with small raised risk of heart attack and strokes. More study is required to find out if the benefits of taking the drugs more frequently would outweigh any risks, stated experts.
The new study could offer a new ways to managing this incurable neurological disorder. According to study author Prof Alberto Ascherio from the Harvard School of Public Health, there is no treatment for Parkinson’s disease, so the potential that ibuprofen an existing and moderately non-toxic drug, could help protect against the disease is fascinating.
It was hard to recognize precisely what effect ibuprofen might be having on the death of nerve cells in the brain and how it might affect if somebody will get Parkinson’s. But based on the findings of this latest study, there would seem to be an interesting relation, explained Dr Kieran Breen, director of Research and Development at Parkinson’s UK.
It is already recognized that inflammatory alterations in the brain may be occupied in the death of nerve cells which cause Parkinson’s, especially in the early stages of the condition added Dr Breen. The study was funded by the Michael J Fox Foundation.