Parkinson's (Yet Again) Linked to Disrupted Gut Microbial Balance

As a disease without a cure or means of prevention, there is a lot yet to learn about Parkinson’s and the way it takes hold in the human body. One school of thought is that it actually begins in the gut, and a new study has strengthened these ties by identifying a type of overabundant pathogen in the intestines (microbiota) of Parkinson’s patients, a novel finding that could add new urgency to this line of inquiry in understanding the root cause(s) of the condition.

A University of Alabama neurology research team reports (link to 2020 paper) finding abnormally large or small populations of three clusters of bacteria in the guts of Parkinson’s patients: one, a previously reported microbe that produces short-chain fatty acids, was present in low numbers. Two others were present in higher than expected numbers.

The research, published recently in the weekly bioscience journal Nature (link to narrative summary), adds to a growing body of evidence for a brain-gut etiology in yet another neurodegenerative illness.

Here is just a tiny fraction (PD+microbiota, PD+dysbiosis) of such studies to date:

2021: Exploring human-genome gut-microbiome interaction in Parkinson’s disease

2022: Metagenomics of Parkinson’s disease implicates the gut microbiome in multiple disease mechanisms

2023: Parkinson's disease and gut microbiota: from clinical to mechanistic and therapeutic studies

2024: The Role of the Gastrointestinal Microbiota in Parkinson's Disease

2025: Proinflammatory and GABA eating bacteria in Parkinson's disease gut microbiome from a meta-analysis perspective

2025: Commentary: Parkinson’s gut-microbiota links raise treatment possibilities