Are Toxins in Seafood Causing ALS, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's?

Was Lou Gehrig's Disease Caused by Tap Water?

I still believe in the multiple hit theory but we must have something in common. Is this i t?!?

How many of us grew up or spent time near lakes or the ocean? How many of us ended up gulping any of that water when first learning how to swim? As someone who learned how to swim in the Gulf of Mexico, I have taken in my fair share of sea water. Have many of us fished in a nearby lake and cooked up what was caught? How many of us have had a so-called health drink containing algae or spirulina?

I will highlight key points but the article is interesting as it traces this all back to a peculiar syndrome that was like ALS, PD, and AD all in one. However, it only appeared in Guam. So what is that all about?

Cyanobacteria is very common as it commonly blooms in soils and bodies of water that have blue-green algae. It also produces a highly neurotoxic compound called beta-methylamino-L-alanine. Even more scary is this BMAA "biomagnifies" meaning that when we ingest fish or any other mammal exposed to it we are ingesting toxic levels of it.

What is even more interesting is that in a significant number, BMAA has been found in the brains of those who died with AD, PD, or ALS. Kinda odd given that this bacteria had only previously been proven as the likely cause of that mysterious neuro illness that happened only in Guam and peaked in the 1950's. How is this at all connected?

If this turns out to be true for even some people, then it is thanks to a compassionate and curious neurologist in New Hampshire who turned to Google for a little epidemiology search and found that a cluster of his ALS patients lived near the same lake.

An ethnobotanist named Paul Cox has taken this hypothesis and run with it. He has been studying this hypothesis since the 90's and he set out to be taken seriously by the scientific community. By 2003, he had Oliver Sacks and the Karaolinski Institute acknowledge that he was "onto something". Since then research has snowballed.

In addition to ingesting, we can also breathe it in as fine particulate matter. BMAA has been linked to ALS cases unique to Gulf War veterans; it is believed that it was inhaled from desert "crusts". Recall it is also present in soils.

Okay, so how does it cause neurodegeneration? Well, note it is an amino acid but not one we have normally, yet it easily gets taken up into the amino acid chain that form proteins...lo and behold:

BMAA can be incorporated into protein chains within human neurons, causing proteins to “misfold” and form aggregates within the cells.


This finding is due to be unveiled in December at the International Symposium on ALS.

I find this really plausible as a key to the idiopathic forms of neurodegenerative diseases. BMAA has not been found in people with Huntington's Disease which is entirely genetic, but obviously genes play a huge role because the bacteria needs an impaired metabolism. Normally, our bodies woud flush this out.

Well, what do you all think?

Laura

Also wanted to highlight what Cox has to say about "progress" in scientific research:

For the past decade or so, most funds have gone toward seeking genes that cause neurodegenerative diseases. “There’s some good research out there, but as Cox says, scientists have been kicking the same ball for 15 years.” Given that 90 percent of cases haven’t yet been explained by genetics, more scientists have begun assessing environmental triggers.

Too often scientists work in disciplinary silos, “and the silos are not communicating,” says Cox. “A lot of neurologists never heard of cyanobacteria, and a lot of cyanobacterial people were not that familiar with ALS. It’s going to require an interdisciplinary group to approach the problem from a number of different angles.

“There is a tie between cyanobacteria and human health. I think that’s pretty well accepted. And at this point we suspect there may be a tie between cyanobacterial toxins and your risk of progressive neurodegenerative disease — but it’s still a hypothesis.”

“If we can disprove it, we can go move on to something else,” adds Banack. “But so far we’ve been unable to disprove it. The data support the hypothesis.”

“We probably have some details wrong,” Cox admits. “But at this point, it’s hard to think that we, including all 20 universities focusing on it, are totally
on a wild-goose chase.”

I could accept that there are folks who drank dirty water, grew up around contaminated grounds, air, or water as well...even that there are a lot of people with this bacteria in them....so what then? Is there a test for it? Is there an antibiotic (or other drug) that can get rid of it?

This to me sounds a lot like the PANDAS, where a bacteria (usually strep) is treated...yet still survives somehow by hiding, only to reappear months later, with a sudden onset of wicked symptoms. For the astute parent or doctor, the child can be treated and often, successfully.

Can the same be said for this bacteria? I read the article Laura linked to about Cox, which is excellent, and a phase II trial is underway for a zinc-based drug.

former post:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...=cyanobacteria

Sorry, Olsen. Could have sworn that I searched first to avoid duplication. It can't hurt to revive the topic given the valuable contribution that biologists seem to be making these days. Cox's work falls right in line with the theory of Paul Ewald.

I just wanted to respond briefly to LFAC. I think your answer is at the very end of the article. A scientist responded to a series of questions in the comments section near the bottom of the page. They are a must read.

Looks like those of us who may have had BMAA in our systems for a long time may be helped by blocking the protein formation. Of course the scary thing is the bio-magnification, we could possibly be ill from it and still ingesting it. I started drinking those probiotic; the green "algae" super-nutrient stuff by Oddwalla around the same time I presented with a tremor. I only stopped drinking it three years ago.

The key things I infer are that it might become like PANDAS where they catch it in time but PANDAS are easier because we know there is an illness right before the neuro symptoms. Or, in those who are chronic "carriers" of BMMA may be helped by disrupting the protein uptake and integration.

HTH

Laura

Hi Laura, no problem with repostings. often information penetrates after reading several postings on a topic. I also repost; one cannot remember every topic that has been introduced. I simply wanted to add to the info.
thanks, madelyn