Two Simple Vitamins May Reduce Your Risk of Parkinson’s Disease

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is better known as a migraine prevention supplement and vitamin B7 (biotin) is typically used for hair, skin, and nail health. A new study has shown that these two humble vitamins may play an important role in preventing Parkinson’s disease.

Japanese researchers compared gut microbiome genetic sequencing data among a group of Japanese adults with data from the USA, Germany, Taiwan, and China, and found that bacterial genes that controlled the production of vitamins B2 and B7 were much lower among people with Parkinson’s disease. These two vitamins are believed to reduce neuroinflammation and protect the gut lining. A leaky gut has been suspected to play a role in Parkinson’s disease, allowing toxins or pathologic proteins to enter the circulation and the nervous system. These substances are believed to play a role in triggering the neurodegenerative changes that eventually lead to Parkinson’s disease.

Now, this study does not provide evidence that supplementing with vitamins B2 and B7 can directly reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease but it does suggest a potentially important (and exciting) role for these vitamins in neurodegenerative diseases.