“Our study reveals the interaction of genetic and environmental factors such as dietary habits, in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease,” he said in a press release from the Center for Environmental Health Research of Germany Dr Matthias Elstner of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Germany).

Elstner is lead author of a recent study published in the January issue of the Annals of Neurology.

The researchers studied the neurons to understand how genes change their activity due to Parkinson’s disease. They found that a gene that seems important and searched in 1,200 Parkinson’s patients and 2,800 healthy people. It was discovered that a gene variant increased the risk of disease.

According to the authors of the study, the genetic variant may affect the activity of a brain enzyme known as pyridoxal kinase (PDXK). PDXK’s role is to convert vitamin B6 from dietary sources in an active form needed for the production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that has long been known that is related to Parkinson’s disease.

“Although this variant is responsible for only a slight contribution to the overall risk of Parkinson’s disease, our findings could help develop individualized therapies,” said Elstner.

Eating too quickly can lead to overeating because the food we gobble up in a hurry limit the release of hormones in the intestine that trigger the feeling of fullness, according to Greek researchers found.

For the study, volunteers ate 300 milliliters of ice cream at different rates. Before and after the ice was measured levels of glucose, insulin and lipids in the blood and gut hormones. Participants who took 30 minutes to eat ice cream had the highest concentrations of intestinal peptide hormones like peptide YY and glycogen, also tended to feel more full than those who ate the ice cream in less time.

Previous research has shown that the release of these hormones after a meal tells the brain that the person is full, but this is the first study to examine the hobble in to eat at different rates affects the release of hormones.

“Most of us have heard that eating fast can lead to overeating and obesity, and indeed some observational studies support this idea,” said lead author Dr. Alexander Kokkinos, Laiko General Hospital in Athens in a press conference of the Endocrine Society. “Our study offers a possible explanation for the relationship between speed of eating and overeating to show that the rate at which you eat could impact the release of gut hormones that tell the brain to stop eating.”