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ICPD: Levodopa Uptake Not Impaired by Normal Protein Diet By Richard Robinson Special to DG News HELSINKI, FINLAND -- August 1, 2001 -- Absorption of levodopa from the gastrointestinal tract of patients with Parkinson's disease is not impaired by a normal protein diet, says Francois Viallet, MD, of the Centre Hospitale and Faculty of Medicine in Marseille, France. "A low protein diet is often recommended to PD patients," said Dr. Viallet at the 14th International Congress on Parkinson's Disease in Helsinki, yesterday, July 31st. Levodopa is absorbed via an amino acid transporter in the gut, and high protein diets can slow uptake. However, said Dr. Viallet, "actual improvement of motor fluctuations remains modest" on a low-protein diet when compared to a normal protein diet. Since this hypothesis is counter to the conventional wisdom, Dr. Viallet compared pharmacokinetic parameters in 20 PD patients eating a breakfast containing 7.5 mg protein, and lunch with 40 mg, each accompanied by the patient's normal levodopa dose, followed by periodic blood sampling. Neither the maximum plasma concentration nor the time to that maximum were different between the two tests, while the "area under the curve" was slightly higher following the noon meal, "probably due to the slightly higher noon-time levodopa intake," Dr. Viallet explained. Given these results, Dr. Viallet speculated that the observed changes of levodopa pharmacodynamics with high concentrations of dietary protein probably are due to impaired transport into the brain, rather than from the gut, and suggested that low-protein diets may not be a significant aid to improvement of levodopa uptake. E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version