Low-protein diet boosts treatment

In patients with Parkinson’s disease, the brain’s dopamine-secreting neurons inexorably die off. The most common treatment to combat the tremors, slowness, and rigidity in these patients is a dopamine precursor called levodopa. But the drug’s effects can decrease over time, causing a person to cycle between “on” periods of low symptoms and “off” periods of high, often-debilitating, symptoms.