Low-cal diet may be deadly for ALS patients: study
February 25, 2010 |15:34 | General Information By : Team X
A new Canadian study suggests patients suffering from Lou Gehrig's Disease who try to lose weight will likely make their condition worse. In fact, a high-fat diet might help them live longer, say researchers. The study was led by York University’s Muscle Health Research Centre, in collaboration with researchers at McMaster University, and was published Wednesday in journal Public Library of Science.
Researchers found that In normal healthy people, losing weight through a reduced calorie diet and regular exercise is a healthy and positive move. But found that in patients with Lou Gehrig's Disease, it can be deadly. Mazen Hamadeh, a professor at York University who worked on the study, said his team found that mice suffering from ALS suffered greatly from a reduced calorie diet. As their motor neurones died faster, their condition worsened faster and they died faster.
ALS differs from multiple sclerosis in that MS simply involves the stripping of nerve cells, while ALS involves the complete death of motor nerves. Because of this complete destruction of the nerve cells, ALS leads to weakness and eventually paralysis. When the disease spreads to the diaphragm, patients often die of respiratory problems as they lose the ability to breath.
According to the study, the reduced calorie diet triggered strong cell distress and inflammation that sped up the destruction of their neurons. They found patients with ALS who put themselves on a reduced calorie diet could die up to three times faster than if they maintained their normal eating habits.
0 Comments
Leave a Comment