Superstar Neil Diamond has been touring the world to celebrate his 50th year making music.
From Top 10 hits like “America,” “Song Sung Blue,” or the classic “Sweet Caroline,” Diamond’s tunes have been a part of our lives for a very long time now.
But it turns out that it’s not just an anniversary tour — it’s also his farewell to the stage.
Diamond’s announcement marks a sad day for fans, not only because of the imminent retirement of this beloved singer/songwriter… but because it was brought about by the progression of Parkinson’s disease.
Diamond, who is 77 years old, said that the toll of touring and performing live is just too much for him now.
With this news, he joins around 60,000 other Americans who are diagnosed with Parkinson’s every year.
There’s no doubt that this disease takes a terrible toll. And cases, especially in men, are on the rise.
But you don’t have to leave things to chance where Parkinson’s is concerned, as there have been some very important findings about ways you can significantly lower your risk and help protect your brain from this disabling disease.
And these are findings that you’re probably not going to hear about from your doctor or the mainstream press.
Brain drain
As to what causes Parkinson’s, well, the experts will tell you that’s still a big mystery.
Or is it?
In 1982, people all across the U.S. started developing what appeared to be full-blown Parkinson’s — and it came on practically overnight (even though it typically takes decades for Parkinson’s to fully reveal its devastating toll on the body).
While that mysterious “outbreak” of Parkinson’s didn’t lead scientists to a cure, it did lead them straight to the cornfield.
It turned out that the people who were afflicted were also users of a new kind of “synthetic heroin” (MPTP) that seems to have brought on the symptoms.
Now, you may think that risk only applies to users of hard drugs, but what you need to know right now is that there’s something else that has a chemical structure remarkably similar to MPTP.
And that’s a commonly used weed killer, the highly toxic herbicide paraquat.
But that’s not all.
Over the intervening decades, numerous other pesticides have been linked to this terrible disease, including 11 identified by UCLA researchers several years ago.
And the most frightening part of their findings wasn’t the number of different chemicals that can trigger the cascade of events that leads to Parkinson’s (although that is downright terrifying)… but that the amounts involved were so miniscule.
The UCLA scientists said that they were “very surprised” that so many pesticides, and at concentrations “way below” the amounts typically used, were implicated.
And it gets even worse.
The chemicals they identified are found in the foods we eat and are commonly applied in our homes and yards, as well as on parks and golf courses! One, for example, is the popular fungicide captan, which you can buy unlimited amounts of almost everywhere, including online and at big-box stores.
So why, then, doesn’t everyone come down with Parkinson’s? After all, if these chemicals can cause the disease and they’re used so much, you would think it would have become an epidemic by now.
First, consider that over 10 million people around the world have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and experts say that those numbers are “dramatically undercounted.”
Also, some people are quite young when they get the bad news — perhaps the most famous being Michael J. Fox, who was only in his 30s!
Second, the best available science is telling us that certain people are more susceptible to developing the disease than others — whether due to genetics, other neurological problems, or the quirk of nature that kills off those brain cells that produce dopamine.
Could you be in that vulnerable group? What about your kids and grandkids?
These are things you just don’t know… and probably wouldn’t even suspect until it’s too late to do anything about it.
While we don’t know what Neil Diamond’s risk factors were in his development of Parkinson’s, it’s also quite likely that neither does he! Most often, patients are told it was just the luck of the draw, a crapshoot with the odds not in their favor.
But that in no way changes the fact that limiting your family’s exposure to these toxic chemicals as much as possible is vital for the health of the brain. And that’s especially important for any children in your life.
Some things you can do right now include:
- Make your home and yard a pesticide-free zone. Sure, getting rid of those weeds and bugs might not be quite as simple, but it can be done. And is potentially trading your mobility for a weed-free lawn really a good deal?
- Buy organic food whenever possible, especially when it comes to imports and the top fruits and veggies found to have chemical residues, such as strawberries, peppers, and tomatoes.
- Find out if your child or grandchild’s school uses pesticides or weed killers. If so, talk to school officials and see what can be done to make things safer, such as switching to a chemical-free option.
I’m sure that, one day, Parkinson’s disease will be totally understood by scientists. But until that time comes, it’s up to us to use all the available information we have to stay as safe as possible.
Remember, the brain you save may be your own!
“Neil Diamond thanks fans for ‘outpouring of love after Parkinson’s diagnosis” Andrea Mandell, January 23, 2018, USA Today, usatoday.com