Smoking - a surprising benefit?

Smoking, a notorious health hazard, seems to come with one surprising benefit – a lowered risk of Parkinson's.

But we don't know how or why smoking protects against Parkinson's. We're funding Professor Cragg at the University of Oxford who is exploring how nicotine affects the brain, and whether we could develop new drugs that mimic these protective effects.

The Michael J Fox Foundation also recently announced funding for a US$1.1million trial to test whether nicotine patches can slow the development of Parkinson's.

We’re often asked about how we keep up with international Parkinson’s research, and where the 90 research projects we fund fit in to the global picture.

Last year Kieran - our Director of Research - travelled around Europe and the US, speaking to leading researchers and colleagues from organisations including the Michael J Fox Foundation. The trip helped us develop our new five year research strategy and our biggest ever research project – the Monument Discovery Award.

You can keep up to date with all the latest Parkinson's research through this blog and our research news. But we’d like to hear from you too. Have you come across an interesting research story?

Post your comments and questions below or email us at: research@parkinsons.org.uk