Lifestyle and risk of Parkinson's disease

The risk of developing idiopathic Parkinson & apos;s disease (PD) is influenced by various genetic and behavioral traits. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been identified as one of the risk factors for developing PD after a prodromal phase of several years. Because T2DM is a preventable condition and established disease can be brought into remission, this would imply that there is a window of opportunity for potentially preventing PD with lifestyle modification. Various studies have demonstrated that regular moderate to vigorous physical exercise and a Mediterranean diet are likely able to prevent PD. And of course these measures will benefit anybody at risk of T2DM and those already diagnosed. In future, all T2DM studies should include PD as an endpoint.