By Simon Spichak, MSc Published On: September 14, 2026
Scientists are studying whether changes in gut bacteria and nerves might be the earliest signs of Parkinson’s.
Since constipation and other gastrointestinal symptoms may precede Parkinson’s by decades, researchers began to suspect that some cases of the disease originate in the gut.
Dr. Per Borghammer of Aarhus University Hospital pioneered the brain-first and body-first models of Parkinson’s, which aim to explain why some people develop different symptoms first. In the brain-first model, the disease starts in the brain’s smell center or its emotional hub and then spreads through to the regions that control motor movement. Others may experience a body-first form of the disease, where the first changes occur in the gut and then spread upward.
The body-first explanation is supported by research from Swedish and Danish health records. Individuals who received a surgery to cut part of the vagus nerve, one pathway through which scientists believe the disease may spread from gut nerves to the brain, had a slightly lower Parkinson’s risk.
Researchers are looking at gut bacteria and misfolded proteins called alpha-synuclein in the gut to untangle the relationship. While an exciting avenue of inquiry and promising data in animal models, these ideas still need confirmation in humans.
“If you just look at the evolution of the clinical symptoms of a patient, it fits pretty nicely,” with the idea that Parkinson’s may start in the gut for some individuals, Dr. Todd Levine, neurologist and chief medical officer of CND Life Sciences, told Being Patient. CND Life Sciences developed a skin-punch biopsy test which is used to measure misfolded proteins linked to Parkinson’s and other diseases.
Researchers hope that understanding these links may eventually lead to less invasive strategies to detect who’s at risk for the disease.
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