Glucose Drink Effects on Blood Sugar and Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease
Compares a sugar drink with a placebo drink in people with Parkinson's disease.
Plain-language title generated from the registry record
Registry title: Influence of Glucose on Metabolism and Clinical Symptoms of Patients With Parkinson's Disease
Key facts
- Where
- Kiel, GermanySee the site
Could this be for you?
Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.
- Are you between 50 and 80 years old?
Source: NCT05998772, who can take part
Where in Germany
- Department for Neurology, University of KielKiel, GermanyTaking people
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Trial details
- Who runs it
- University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein
- Trial code
- NCT05998772
- Record updated
- 22 September 2025
- Original description
Many patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) report an increased consumption of fast-acting sugars. This tendency to consume sweet, high-sugar foods occurs in some patients even before the onset of cardinal motor symptoms. Some recent studies have demonstrated that PD patients have an increased consumption of fast-acting carbohydrates compared to healthy controls. However, the reason for this change in eating behavior has not yet been adequately explained. It is discussed that the increased sugar intake leads to an increased dopamine release in the brain via an increase in insulin and thus to an improvement in clinical symptoms. This study investigates the influence of fast-acting carbohydrates on insulin and glucose blood levels as well as motor and non-motor symptoms in patients with PD using an oral glucose tolerance test and a placebo oral glucose tolerance test in a crossover design.Read full original descriptionShow less
Influence of Glucose on Metabolism and Clinical Symptoms of Patients With Parkinson's Disease
Many patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) report an increased consumption of fast-acting sugars. This tendency to consume sweet, high-sugar foods occurs in some patients even before the onset of cardinal motor symptoms. Some recent studies have demonstrated that PD patients have an increased consumption of fast-acting carbohydrates compared to healthy controls. However, the reason for this change in eating behavior has not yet been adequately explained. It is discussed that the increased sugar intake leads to an increased dopamine release in the brain via an increase in insulin and thus to an improvement in clinical symptoms. This study investigates the influence of fast-acting carbohydrates on insulin and glucose blood levels as well as motor and non-motor symptoms in patients with PD using an oral glucose tolerance test and a placebo oral glucose tolerance test in a crossover design.
Inclusion: Diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease, stage Hoehn \& Yahr 1.5-3; Ability to pause antiparkinsonian medication in the morning without relevant impairment; Capacity to give consent (determined in doubt by two independent neurologists, MOCA ≥18) and written informed consent; Patients are between 50 and 80 years of age, with exceptions for a maximum of 5 additional patients enrolled per group; For stratification into patients with and without sweet craving, a 3-day dietary protocol should be completed once by the patients; Group I: increased hunger for sweets; Group II: no increased hunger for sweets; For the stratification into patients with and without increased hunger for sweets, participants are asked to answer the following questions:; Do you have sudden attacks of cravings for sweets?; Would you say that your consumption of sweet food has increased in recent years?; Would you describe your consumption of sugary food as increased or excessive?; If one of the questions is answered with yes, participants will be assigned to group I, if all questions are answered with no, participants will be assigned to group II.
Exclusion: Other significant neurological diseases primarily affecting the central nervous system (e.g., multiple sclerosis); Diagnosis of diabetes mellitus or prediabetes; cardiac or brain pacemakers; Use of medications that affect glucose metabolism, such as antidiabetics, glucocorticoids, ciclosporin, tacrolimus, sirolimus, beta-blockers, thiazide diuretics, beta-2 adrenoreceptor agonists, theophylline, Clozapine, olanzapine, paliperidone, quetiapine, risperidone, tricyclic antidepressants, mirtazapine, mianserin, carbamazepine, gabapentin, pregabalin, valproic acid, lithium, antiretroviral drugs, statins.