Your Second Brain: Melody Mackeown on Gut Health and Parkinson's

Most of us know roughly what we should be eating. But do we know what our gut is doing while we eat it, and what that has to do with Parkinson's?In this episode, Maria and Vicky sit down with Melody Mackeown, a gut health and Parkinson's nutrition specialist, to explore one of the most fascinating and fast-moving areas of Parkinson's research: the gut-brain connection. Melody explains the three components linking gut to brain, the enteric nervous system, the vagus nerve, and the gut microbiome, and why understanding them matters so much for people living with Parkinson's. Did you know the gut produces around 50% of the body's dopamine? Or that gut inflammation decades before diagnosis could be an early indicator of Parkinson's? Or that protein and dopamine medication use the same transporter system in the gut, meaning the timing of meals really does matter?Melody demystifies the difference between probiotics and prebiotics, makes the case for a Mediterranean-style diet, and shares the kind of practical, personalised advice she gives her clients: from what to eat for breakfast and whether intermittent fasting is worth trying, to how dietary changes helped one client sleep for 30 minutes instead of four hours, and another partially regain their sense of smell. As Maria puts it in her key takeaway: you cannot out-supplement a poor diet. It all starts with what's on your plate.🔗 Full show notes: https://shakingitupwithparkinsonspodcast.com/episode-5-gut-health-nutrition/