An Ibuprofen a Day Could Keep Parkinson's Away

New research shows people who regularly take ibuprofen – the basis of such popular pain relievers as Advil, Nuprin and Motrin -- may substantially reduce their risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, according to a study to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto.

Parkinson's is an age-related disorder involving loss of certain types of brain cells and is characteristically marked by impaired movement and slow speech. An estimated 1 million Americans are living with Parkinson’s disease, and about 60,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the United States. Experts say the diagnosed cases do not reflect the true magnitude of the disease because many cases go undiagnosed.

The study found regular users of ibuprofen were 40% less likely to develop Parkinson’s than people who didn’t take ibuprofen. Also, people who took higher amounts of ibuprofen were less likely to develop Parkinson’s than people who took smaller amounts of the drug. The results were the same regardless of age, smoking and caffeine intake.

“Ibuprofen was the only NSAID linked to a lower risk of Parkinson’s,” said Dr. Xiang Gao, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. “Other NSAIDs and analgesics, including aspirin and acetaminophen, did not appear to have any effect on lowering a person’s risk of developing Parkinson’s. More research is needed as to how and why ibuprofen appears to reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease, which affects up to one million people in the United States.”

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