A type of diabetes drug may offer a glimmer of hope in the fight against Parkinson's disease, research in the journal Plos One suggests.
Scientists found people taking glitazone pills were less likely to develop Parkinson's than patients on other diabetes drugs.
But they caution the drugs can have serious side-effects and should not be given to healthy people.
Instead, they suggest the findings should prompt further research.
'Unintended benefits'
There are an estimated 127,000 people in the UK with Parkinson's disease, which can lead to tremor, slow movement and stiff muscles.
And charities say with no drugs yet proven to treat the condition, much more work is needed in this area.
The latest study focuses solely on people with diabetes who did not have Parkinson's disease at the beginning of the project.
Researchers scoured UK electronic health records to compare 44,597 people prescribed glitazone pills with 120,373 people using other anti-diabetic treatment.
Our findings provide unique evidence that we hope will drive further investigation into potential drug treatments
Dr Ian Douglas
They matched participants to ensure their age and stage of diabetes treatment were