A paper published late last year links a $19 billion dollar a year drug – Carbidopa – to an increasing death rate among Parkinson’s disease patients as well as significant worsening of Parkinson’s disease symptoms. You read that right, this paper provides evidence that taking Carbidopa – which is the most widely used drug for the medical treatment of Parkinson’s disease – makes the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease worse over time.

Here are the key points of the paper entitled: The Parkinson’s disease death rate: carbidopa and vitamin B6:

• There is a link between carbidopa and the Parkinson’s disease death rate which has increased 328% since 1976, shortly after the widespread use of Carbidopa was initiated.
• Carbidopa induces a system-wide depletion in vitamin B6. Symptoms of vitamin B6 deficiency are identical to Parkinson’s disease in these patients. When Parkinson’s disease is getting worse while taking carbidopa, the leading cause is the carbidopa.
• The nutritional deficiency induced by carbidopa CANNOT be corrected while taking carbidopa since the carbidopa mechanism of action in nutritional depletion.

Other peer reviewed papers and clinical evidence support the use of 5-HTP and L-DOPA along with other necessary cofactors in place of carbidopa. 5-HTP has the same mechanism of action as carbidopa, which is inhibition of the AADC enzyme. Inhibition by 5-HTP is reversible, inhibition by carbidopa is irreversible. In addition, the use of 5-HTP does not deplete the body of vitamin B6; carbidopa does. Once more, the use of 5-HTP increase serotonin levels in the body which are often severely depleted in Parkinson’s disease patients; carbidopa causes further serotonin depletion.

This landmark peer-reviewed paper casts light on an incredibly concerning problem in the medical treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Luckily, the clinical use of amino acid therapy can often provide superior benefits without the accompanying side effects.