Some neurotoxic metals, like lead (Pb), aluminium (Al), Mercury (Hg), manganese (Mn), cadmium (Cd), and arsenic (As), and also pesticides and metal-based nanoparticles, have been implicated in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease are the most common neurodegenerative diseases. In the United States, as many as 6.2 million people may have Alzheimer's disease, ing to a report from the Alzheimer's Disease Association in 2022.
Conclusions. Lifestyle including high sugar diets, alcohol and tobacco addiction or high diets as well as some intrinsic factors such as ageing, neuroinflammation, brain injury and oxidative stress, negatively influence the onset, severity and duration of neurodegenerative diseases (Figure 1).
A large prospective study found that a diet characterized by high intake of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, fish, and poultry, as well as limited intake of saturated , and moderate alcohol consumption was significantly associated with a lower risk of PD 50.
Indeed, epidemiological studies have shown an increased proportion of small particle pollutants in the air, is associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's and dementia. But it remains unclear how this particulate matter alters someone's risk and drives progression of neurodegenerative disease.
Most neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by the accumulation of aggregated proteins within neurons. These aggregate-prone proteins cause toxicity, a phenomenon that is further exacerbated when there is defective protein clearance.
Degenerative Nerve Diseases Many of these diseases are genetic. Sometimes the cause is a medical condition such as alcoholism, a tumor, or a stroke. Other causes may include toxins, chemicals, and viruses. Sometimes the cause is unknown.
There is no cure for any neurodegenerative disease—not Alzheimer's disease, or Parkinson's, or Huntington's, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or any of the numerous other diseases that, slowly or quickly, erode away at a person's ability to think, remember, or control their body movements.