Dr. Oz talks about “Hair Color and Your Health”

“Brunettes, blondes and redheads all have something to beware, from thinning and balding to an increased risk of certain diseases,” according to Dr. Oz.

Yesterday, Dr. Oz said on his daily TV show that “redheads are 90% more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease.”  It has something to do with the DNA of redheads. I love Dr. Oz but I think that this theory is preposterous.

Parkinson’s disease is named after James Parkinson who wrote a book about it in 1817.  It is a disease of the central nervous system, just like ALS, which is also a modern disease of the central nervous system.  Curiously, these diseases didn’t exist until modern times.  Hippocrates, the Greek father of medicine, never described them. Parkinson’s disease used to be known as “palsy,” because the most prominent symptom is involuntary shaking of the hands.

Hippocrates famously said, “Let your food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food.”  That is still good advice today.  In fact, Dr. Oz believes in this.  He told his audience yesterday that the folic acid in beans and asparagus will prevent Parkinson’s disease.  I think he is on the right track but there is more to it than that.

The two most famous people, that I know of, who developed Parkinson’s disease are Michael J. Fox and Hitler, neither of whom has, or had, red hair.  I personally know a few people who have Parkinson’s, but none of these people are redheads.  I also know a few redheads, including my mother, and none of them has, or had, Parkinson’s.  Red hair is usually associated with the Irish.  If Dr. Oz is right, then there should be a lot of people with Parkinson’s disease in Ireland.

I have my own theory about what causes Parkinson’s disease, just based on personal observation.  I think that it is caused by eating an unbalanced diet and/or taking drugs.

The old photo below shows Hitler on his 56th birthday on April 20, 1945.  He is holding his hand behind his back to hide the shaking caused by Parkinson’s disease.  The color photo shows an actor in the movie “Downfall” whose shaking hand is hidden from the young boys, as the real-life scene is recreated.

Hitler was  last photographed on his birthday in 1945

The movie “Downfall” recreates a real-life scene

Take Hitler, for example.  He had severe Parkinson’s at the age of 56.  Hitler was a vegetarian, which is good, but he ate an unbalanced diet, according to his close associates, who described his diet, in books and interviews.  Hitler ate a lot of potatoes, which are an extreme yin food, in the Chinese yin-yang system of eating.  He also ate lots of refined sugar, which is also classified as extreme yin.

Hitler took tea every day and always ate cake.  He had not one, but two tea houses, and never missed taking afternoon tea.

Hitler had tea and cake every afternoon

Hitler’s tea house, known as “the Eagle’s Nest”

Hitler’s Mooslahnerkopf tea house

My Chinese dentist told me that his father developed Parkinson’s because he ate a Western diet instead of the traditional Chinese diet.  His father’s diet was heavy on yang foods, including duck and shrimp which are extreme yang.

Could it be that redheads get Parkinson’s disease because they are Irish and the Irish used to eat lots of potatoes?  In modern Ireland, I observed that the Irish eat lots of meat.

My personal opinion is that Parkinson’s disease is caused by going to extremes, whether it is eating too much fatty meat, or eating too much sugar and foods high in potassium, such as potatoes. But just to make sure, I am going to follow Dr. Oz’s advice and eat lots of beans and asparagus.