Margaret Jarrett was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease eight years ago. And although she was bothered by many of the symptoms that commonly afflict people living with Parkinson’s — resting tremor, uncertain gait, and terrible nightmares — the thing that bothered her the most was the loss of her sense of smell. An avid gardener, she took great pride in her roses but being unable to inhale their perfumed scent really got her down.

“You take something like your sense of smell for granted,” Jarrett, 72, said. “You don’t realize how precious something is until it’s gone.”

Parkinson’s disease combines movement disorders, including resting tremors, muscle rigidity, impaired balance, and movement slowness. It can also cause neurological problems such as depression, insomnia, memory loss, and confusion.

Its cause is unknown, but it is associated with dopamine depletion and destruction of neurons in the brain's basal ganglia region.

The current mainstay of treatment for Parkinson’s disease involves physical therapy and medications that act to increase dopamine levels in the brain. One relatively new therapy for Parkinson’s is exposure to infrared light.

Dr. Ann Liebert, co-ordinator of photomolecular research at the Australasian Research Institute, has been exploring the idea of using infrared light to modulate the gastrointestinal tract’s microbiome in humans.

The gut’s microbiome — composing trillions of bacteria, fungi, and protozoa from hundreds of different species that normally inhabit our gastrointestinal tract — has come under increasing scientific attention over the past decade, with links being established between the microbiome and several conditions including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and depression. Several studies have also observed that the gut microbiome is markedly altered in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Fecal microbiota transplantation can have a protective effect in animal models of Parkinson’s.

The reason for this is unknown. However, an interesting observation is that another common pathology seen in Parkinson’s disease is the accumulation of misfolded proteins, called Lewy bodies, in the brain. It has been shown that certain sensory cells of the gut contain these same proteins.

Researchers have hypothesized that abnormal forms of the protein could travel from the gut to the brain through the vagus nerve, a phenomenon observed in animal models of Parkinson’s. Further support for this theory comes from findings that people who have had a surgical vagotomy — where branches of the nerve are cut — have a lower lifetime risk of developing Parkinson’s.

“We know that infrared light can reduce Parkinson’s symptoms and offer protection to brain cells. So, we wanted to test if it could modulate the gut’s microbiome as well,” Liebert said.

Provisional results from the first half dozen Adelaide participants, including Margaret Jarrett, have been promising.

“The six patients . . . showed an increase by up to 20 percent in the favorable microbiome that is associated with obesity reduction and short-chain fatty acid production. And the bacteria associated with rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and insulin resistance were all decreased,” said Hosen Kiat, a professor of cardiology at Macquarie University, who oversaw the trial.

“For the last three years, I haven’t been able to smell flowers,” Jarrett said. “But several weeks into the trial, I started to smell my roses, daphnes, and gardenias again, and it was wonderful.”

Another participant, Barry Weldon, 70, had a similar experience. “My sense of smell improved significantly,” he said. “One day, I walked into the house, and for the first time in a long time, I could actually smell the soup my wife was cooking.”

Ron Till, 68, had an even more dramatic improvement. “The trial gave me the ability to sleep again,” he said. “It was amazing.”

Till’s neurologist cautioned him not to get his hopes up before the trial but changed his mind when he saw the results. “He told me it was voodoo medicine and probably wouldn’t work,” Till recalled. “But after the trial, I went back for my three-monthly assessment with him, and he said to me, ‘You’re actually testing better than when you first started with me ten years ago.’”

Retired geologist Sean Kennedy, 76, also experienced an improvement in his coordination and balance. “My juggling skills have improved,” he said.

In a review published in Photobiomodulation, Photomedicine and Laser Surgery, Liebert and her co-authors acknowledge that while the exact mechanism by which light therapy alters the microbiome is unknown, there is definite potential in light therapy.

“The ability of PBM [light therapy] to influence the microbiome (if proven to apply to humans) will allow an additional therapeutic route to target multiple diseases, including cardiovascular disease and Parkinson’s disease, many of which have thus far eluded effective treatment approaches,” the paper concludes.

Kiat is excited by light therapy’s potential. “If we can create non-­invasively a metabolically healthier microbiome through this extremely cheap and easy way, then inflammatory diseases and neurodegenerative diseases should be positively influenced,” he said.

Gold Coast-based GP Mark Jeffery is a clinician who has been using lasers in his practice for more than four years. He says the research supports the use of light therapy for a wide range of diseases, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, depression, and chronic pain.

“The reality is there are no real side effects from low-level laser therapy, and it’s one of the safest treatments you can ever do,” he says.

Liebert says the promising results they have seen thus far will inform a large, double-blinded randomized control trial planned for this year. “It has the potential to apply to huge fields of medicine,” she said.

Weldon’s neurologist, Chris Kneebone, is keeping an open mind on infrared light therapy’s potential. “We all just have to wait and see what the trial results tell us,” he said.

His advice for people who wish to give it a try for their Parkinson’s? “If you want to give it a go, give it a go,” he said. “I’ve got no reason not to recommend it, but at this stage, I’ve got no reason to think it is helpful either.”

As for Jarrett, she has no doubts that infrared light therapy has helped her. She enjoys pottering around in her garden again and has more energy than she has had for a long time.

“I feel like I could take on the world again,” she said. “My garden has never looked better.”

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References

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30074108/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29247431/

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Alzheimer’s is a very complex disease, and one that is still undergoing significant research – there’s still a lot we still don’t understand about how and why this disease happens. 

We know that Alzheimer's is a neurodegenerative disease that starts slowly and progressively worsens in most cases, and the actual memory loss and cognitive issues experienced we refer to as dementia; Alzheimer's is the physical disease that causes dementia to develop. When a person is diagnosed with Alzheimer's, the connections between their nerve cells within the brain are damaged and eventually entirely lost. 

What causes the connections between the nerves to disappear is protein. Protein builds up with patients with Alzheimer's, specifically within the brain, which then causes abnormal structures we call "plaques" and "tangles." The lost connection inevitably leads to the complete death of the nerve cell, leading to lost brain tissue. 

But, in recent years, studies have shown that there could be a way to improve and lessen the symptoms of dementia caused by Alzheimer’s. And it starts with light therapy.

You may have heard about light therapy, but didn’t think much of it with respect to degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Well, think again. Light therapy is a non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical treatment for the body and mind. It targets the pathology at the cellular level, contributing to ATP stimulation and increasing and improving cell reproduction. Essentially, it can help with providing better and stronger cells to the body, thus resulting in a stronger organism and overall improved health. 

Research suggests that exposure to a light flickering at 40 Hz may promote gamma-wave brain activity, which could potentially activate cells in the brain to eliminate the plaques that are common in Alzheimer's disease. They are called beta-amyloid plaques, ones that exist due to the protein build-up. 

There has been testing surrounding the development of a light-sensitive molecule called a photo-oxygenation catalyst that's injected into live mice with Alzheimer's disease. Researchers have shown that while the catalyst remains mostly inactive as it rests in the cells, it activates when hit with near-infrared light. This light therapy treatment has been used by researchers on mice brains for 30 minutes each day for one week, and significant reductions have been observed in the amyloid proteins. According to the study, they successfully disrupted the amyloid structures by changing the chemical bonds holding them together.

Now that the protein has been disrupted, after destabilizing the plaque, the body’s immune system takes over and clears away the damaged cells. The researchers saw a phase occurring in mouse cells growing in a dish. The brain’s immune system enveloped the oxygenated amyloids and broke them down in acidic compartments.

Another recent investigation featured in Neuron shows that boosting gamma oscillations can improve the connection between nerve cells, reduce inflammation, and preserve against cell death in mouse models of Alzheimer’s. It also shows that the treatment's far-reaching effects involve nerve cells, or neurons, and a type of immune cell called microglia.

The researchers also examined gene changes in the treated and untreated mice. They found that the nerve cells of untreated mice had reduced activity in genes that repair DNA and in those that help operate the connections between nerve cells. The treated mice, on the other hand, showed greater activity in these genes. The treated mice had also been seen making more connections between nerve cells, and that these connections operated more coherently.

Through technological advancement, light therapy is making tremendous leaps forward in helping people with Alzheimer’s. To learn more about the benefits of light therapy on other degenerative diseases, head to our blog. If you’re interested in learning more about the power of light therapy in your own life or for your business, please reach out to our team – we look forward to connecting.

While alternative treatments are taking one step forward in providing patients with non-pharmacological methods for treatment, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is trying to make sure that pharmaceutical options are always regarded as a more effective option—even when they’re scientifically proven otherwise. 

The FDA recently approved a new Alzheimer's disease drug that has immense evidence proving that it isn't an effective treatment option for the disease even though it was given the green light. Drugmaker Biogen's aducanumab entered the market to treat mild stages of Alzheimer's disease. While many families who have loved ones with Alzheimer's disease viewed this as a ray of light, it appears that Biogen isn't holding up to its promise. 

Two large clinical trials tested aducanumab’s performance, proving the results were insignificant at best, resulting in Biogen halting the studies. However, through collaboration, the FDA and Biogen were able to collect a small amount of data from one study, showing that the drug provided a small reduction in cognitive decline among patients with mild Alzheimers who took a higher dosage of aducanumab. 

Aducanumab is estimated to cost $20,000 to $50,000 a year per patient, with 2 million Americans eligible candidates for treatment. Naturally, alternative and cost-effective treatments, such as light therapy, are being swept under the rug. 

But while this drug continues to be controversial, Alzheimer’s patients don’t need to waste time waiting for its results. It’s time that Alzheimer’s patients looked at other methods of treatment. Light therapy for Alzheimer's has proven to be highly effective in slowing down Alzheimer’s symptoms. 

Giving Alzheimer’s patients the ability to treat themselves without invasive methods at a fraction of the cost isn’t what the pharmaceutical industry wants to advocate. However, they cannot deny science.

But how do Alzheimer’s disease and light therapy work together? 

As we know, Alzheimer’s slowly destroys brain tissue through the death of cells. Through light therapy, it’s been proven that this method can slow down the process in various ways. Light therapy works on the cellular level, improving the connection between nerve cells, reducing inflammation, and preventing cellular death. 

In 2016, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge found that shining a light into the eyes of mice reduced the toxic buildup of amyloid and tau proteins. With light therapy suppressing Beta-amyloid buildup, brain cells can return to their natural state. 

Second, it boosts a form of brain wave called gamma oscillation which is impaired in people with Alzheimer’s disease. “It seems,” says senior study author Li-Huei Tsai, professor of neuroscience and director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT, “that neurodegeneration is largely prevented.” 

Lastly, light therapy has also been shown to help strengthen the ability of microglia—a type of immune cell—to handle inflammation. Doing so allows the microglia to clear waste materials in the brain, preventing the buildup of toxic plaques and tangles.

Currently, no other method of treatment provides this level of neuroprotection. As of now, light therapy is the only alternative treatment that's showing real results. While the FDA is approving a drug with inconclusive results on its effectiveness, innovative new treatments like light therapy are proving to majorly help patients here and now. 

At Kaiyan Medical, we specialize in manufacturing MDA-certified and FDA-approved light therapy devices used for clinical or at-home use. It's time Alzheimer's patients are given the opportunity to be treated with methods that work.