An important new article on ALS epidemiology strongly supports the hypothesis that the cyanobacterial toxin BMAA causes ALS, a devastating paralytic disease that can strike people down in the prime of life.
At the Brain Chemistry Labs, we have years of research to support our theory that BMAA is linked to ALS. Now a study from independent researchers also reports a link, strengthening our claims.
Although genetic factors have been extensively researched, only 8-10% of ALS cases are familial. Environmental factors are believed to play an important role in the remaining 90-92% of cases that are sporadic.
Researchers at Arizona State University reviewed 1,710 scientific papers in an effort to rank possible environmental factors that potentially cause ALS. They used the Bradford Hill criteria, which is a way of measuring risk factors for disease causality.
The top supported environmental ALS risk factor emerged: the cyanobacterial toxin BMAA, which is the only environmental factor that met all nine Bradford Hill criteria. The next most likely risk factor, formaldehyde, on the other hand, only met five Bradford Hill criteria.
Dr. Paul Cox at the Brain Chemistry Labs, who was not associated with this paper, clarifies that while BMAA emerges from the new study as the best-supported causative factor, “it does not mean that exposure to BMAA or cyanobacterial toxins is the most common cause of ALS. A combination of genes and other environmental factors likely play an important role.”
The researchers concluded: “BMAA, formaldehyde, manganese, mercury, and zinc emerged as the five highest-ranked environmental factors through a combination of Bradford Hill criteria analysis and association analysis of population exposure studies.
These are the environmental toxins most recommended for the most immediate research. Due to extensive research of BMAA over the years, this analysis asserts causal criteria have been met.”
The researchers also specifically attribute population-wide BMAA exposures to consumption of contaminated seafood:
“When aligning the results from the systematic review of ranked factors with those obtained by the state-of-the-science population exposure assessment, BMAA exposures likely were derived from the ingestion of seafood harvested from waters contaminated with cyanobacteria or from ingestion of the cycad plant.”
The researchers note the importance of measuring BMAA in cyanobacterial blooms which requires trained scientists using expensive laboratory equipment.
The Brain Chemistry Labs has developed a lateral flow immunoassay, much like a pregnancy test, which promises to provide a rapid and inexpensive way to detect BMAA by water managers, fishermen, and laypeople who are concerned with cyanobacterial blooms.
Newell ME, Adhikari S, Halden RU. Systematic and state-of-the-science review of the role of environmental factors in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Science of The Total Environment. 2021 Dec 28:152504.