Remove From Environment and Body All Toxins Diet for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
ALS Diet Pages
Mercury, Lead, Pesticides....
"The incidence of neurodegenerative disease...several environmental pollutants have been associated with neurodegenerative disorders. The present article focuses on results obtained in experimental neurotoxicology studies that indicate a potential pathogenic role of lead and mercury in the development of neurodegenerative disease. Both heavy metals have been shown to interfere with a multitude of intracellular targets, thereby contributing to several pathogenic processes typical of neurodegenerative disorders, including mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, deregulation of protein turnover, and brain inflammation." Involvement of environmental mercury and lead in the etiology of neurodegenerative diseases. Monnet-Tschudi F et al. Rev Environ Health. 2006 Apr-Jun; 21(2): 105-17.
"A 54-year-old man had a syndrome resembling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis after a brief but intense exposure to elemental mercury. The syndrome resolved as his urinary mercury levels fell. Mercury toxicity must be considered not only in individuals with recent anterior horn-cell dysfunction but also with otherwise unexplained peripheral neuropathy, tremor, ataxia, and a gamut of psychiatric symptoms including confusion and depression." C.R. Adams, D.K. Ziegler and J.T. Lin Mercury intoxication simulating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
"...inorganic mercury present in the brains, accumulating after long-term subclinical methyl mercury exposure, may be a proximate toxic form of mercury responsible for the changes within the astrocyte and microglial populations." Changes in the number of astrocytes and microglia in the thalamus of the monkey Macaca fascicularis following long-term subclinical methyl mercury exposure.Charleston JS et al. Neurotoxicology. 1996 Spring; 17(1):127-38.
"We studied the effect of mercury compounds on neuronal glutamate transport in primary cultures of mouse cerebellar granule cells. Immunoblots probed with an antibody against the excitatory amino acid transporter (EAAT) neuronal glutamate transporter, EAAT3 revealed the presence of a specific band in control and mercury-treated cultures. We suggest that a direct inhibition of glutamate uptake triggers an imbalance in cell homeostasis, leading to neuronal failure and Cl- regulated cellular glutamate efflux. Our results demonstrate that neuronal glutamate transport is a novel target to be taken into account when assessing mercury-induced neurotoxicity. Mercury Compounds Disrupt Neuronal Glutamate Transport in Cultured Mouse Cerebellar Granule Cells. Elena Fonfria et al. Journal of Neuroscience Research 79:545-553 (2005).
"In our study, ALS was associated with self-reported occupational lead exposure, with a dose response for cumulative days of exposure. ALS was also associated with blood and bone lead levels, with a 1.9-fold increase in risk for each µg/dl increment in blood lead and a 2.3- to 3.6-fold increase for each doubling of bone lead." Neurodegenerative Diseases 2005;2:195-201
"....methylmercury appear(s) to also act via an excitotoxic mechanism leading to elevated intracellular Ca2+, increased reactive oxygen species and ultimately impaired mitochondrial function" F. Fonnum, E. A. Lock The contributions of excitotoxicity, glutathione depletion and DNA repair in chemically induced injury to neurones: exemplified with toxic effects on cerebellar granule cells Journal of Neurochemistry (2004) 88 (3), 513 - 531.
No doubt about it, we live in a toxic world. Many scientists and writers have dedicated their life to understanding the environmental factors that can affect our quality of life. We live in a high tech, high stress, high profit world and "progress at any cost" is rapidly depleting the ability of our "natural" bodies to cope with the increasingly dangerous toxic load placed upon us. Perhaps credit can be given to Rachel Carson who in 1962, in her book, "Silent Spring" raised awareness as to how the toxins we were generating were leading to our demise as individuals as well as a society. Silent Spring facilitated the ban of the pesticide DDT in 1972 in the United States. In fact, it has been speculated that entire massive societies, like the high-tech Aztecs of Mexico in the 14th through 16th centuries were obliterated from the face of the earth due to technology that poisoned their world and ability to sustain life.
The incidence of ALS in Gulf War veterans (August 1990-March 1991) is more than twice as high as that of non-Gulf War veterans. In addition, though ALS rarely strikes before the age of 45, the Gulf War veterans were, and are now being diagnosed under age 45. There were five categories of pesticides approved by the EPA and FDA for use in the gulf to protect the armed personnel from being bitten by the regional insects. One of the pesticides was DEET which was used generously on the body to protect it from being bitten by insects. Studies continue to this day seeking to find a connection between these pesticides and the doubled incidence of ALS. Or perhaps more accurately, the studies are attempting to prove no absolute connection. Perhaps that is to be expected, because surely the government wouldn't want to be blamed for something so horrific (not to mention something for which millions in lawsuits could be filed). Some studies even say that it must have been the pesticides in combination with "other factors". I propose the other factors were the pre-pumping of mercury into the bodies of these men. Ask any military man and they will tell you that before deploying to any foreign region, they are given many series of immunizations, and immunizations contain mercury (Thimerosal®).
In July of 2006 the Muscular Dystrophy Association announced findings, published in the journal Neurology that "genetically-determined variations in enzymes required to handle toxins like pesticides, nerve gas and anti-nerve medications appear to increase susceptibility to ALS". They said that this finding strengthened the causal relationship between the high level of pesticides and chemicals used in the Gulf War to the high incidence of ALS. What is missing again is how those enzymes were damaged or modified in the first place. I propose emphatically that they were damaged by mercury and other heavy metals, like lead, which has been proven to enhance calcium entry into neurons leading to the death of the neuron and thus a causative factor in ALS.
Mercury is one of many "heavy metals". Heavy metals are defined as metallic elements with high atomic weights, like mercury, cadmium, arsenic and lead, and damage living things at any concentration and also tend to accumulate in the food chain. One example is elemental (inorganic) mercury. Mercury is released into the air or water when coal, wood or oil is burned and then the mercury falls to the ground with rain or snow. Mercury then becomes methylated in the environment where it accumulates in animal and plant tissues and increases in concentration the higher you get in the food chain. The resultant methylmercury has been shown to undergo a "biotransformation" in the body, leading to the accumulation of the even more reactive inorganic mercuric species in the brain and other tissues. Dangerous levels of mercury are found in fish, vaccines and dental amalgams. So even though fish should be a very healthy food, many types are simply not safe anymore, as there is no safe consumption level of mercury. With regard to vaccines, sadly, once immunized, the damage has already been done (such as having been immunized as an infant, as armed service personnel or by yearly flu shots). For all who have had any amount of mercury exposure, measures must be taken to chelate it and other heavy metals out of the body.
Recall that glutamate toxicity occurs because of a dysfunction in the protein systems of the brain and resultant inability to remove and dispose of the glutamate. Both lead and mercury (and it would follow that this would apply to all heavy metals) contribute to pathogenic processes that would lead to dysfunction in the glutamate clearing systems of the brain (see diagram below). Note that one of the articles above is entitled: Mercury Compounds Disrupt Neuronal Glutamate Transport. EAAT is just one of the neuronal glutamate transporters in the brain whose purpose is to remove excess amounts of glutamate. Glutamate is unable to leave the brain without the help of a protein transporter, such as EAAT. Glutamate transporters are "membrane-bound pumps" that resemble ion channels, like the calcium channels on membranes - which function to maintain a homeostasis within cells and their surroundings. When transporters and channels don't work, a buildup occurs (in this case, of glutamate) that kills cells. With glutamate, the process is called excitotoxicity. But glutamate isn't the only "excitotoxin" - the popular "aspartame" found as a sugar substitute in many foods is also an excitotoxin. To further confound matters, glutamate, or monosodium glutamate, by sanction of the Food and Drug Administration, doesn't have to be notated on labels of foods, if "hidden" within another substance (hence the list above). But the problems are complex and numerous, the answer is easier - don't trust foods full of man-made chemicals, instead stick to whole, natural foods.
As an aside, and before proceeding to the diagram below: Scientists have struggled to identify the cause of ALS. To date, two main forms of the disease have been identified: familial and sporadic. Of these, sporadic ALS is the most common, with 90 percent of cases this type. They continue to insist that the cause of ALS is unknown, although researchers are pursuing a number of theories, including oxidative stress, glutamate toxicity, and mitochondrial dysfunction. Here is where I'm shaking my head. A review of hundreds of studies plus commonsense tells me that all three of those factors and more are going on at once and "causing" ALS. I just want to say here, that the difference between what you are reading from my pen, and all of the speculations you might read from others, appears to be one thing. What appears to be missing is the acknowledgement or understanding that a heavy metal and/or toxin causes a "glitch" (e.g., damage to EAAT glutamate transporter being able to clear the brain of the excitotoxin) that leads to the many factors mentioned above (and more) going on at once. [I can't help but think of the story of a group of blind men who went to "experience" an elephant....each was "stationed" at a different area of the beast and came away with very different stories as to exactly what an elephant was. That same blindness seems to occur in science at times.]
Interestingly, a December, 2006 study: Surface Chemistry of Mercury on Zinc and Copper in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions by D. Rosebourough et al states: "...mercury may adsorb on the surface of zinc present on the surface of the galvanized automobile plates in scrap and copper..." Scientists in the Biology Department at Stanford University, published a February, 2007 study stating: Over 110 structurally diverse missense mutations in the superoxide dismutase (SOD1) gene have been linked to the pathogenesis of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Superoxide dismutase "1" is a copper-zinc enzyme (Impaired post-translational folding of familial ALS-linked Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase mutants. Bruns CK, Kopito RR. EMBO J. 2007 Feb 7;26(3):855-66. Epub 2007 Jan 25). Putting two and two together, if mercury "adsorbs" to zinc and copper in the environment, it follows it would do likewise in your internal environment. This, then, would cause the mutations or "folding" we see in SOD1 keeping it from doing it's job of protecting neurons from the extreme oxidative damage we see in ALS.
Russell Blaylock, author of "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills" and numerous scientific articles, lays out a diagram similar to mine below, showing the pathway from heavy metals to nitric oxide and glutamate's ability to behave as excitotoxins, resulting in the death of nerve and other cells. He rightfully states that mercury, lead, fluoride, aluminum, or any heavy metal is the underlying catalyst of all of the reactions within the central nervous system that lead to the death of neuronal cells, and thus cause neurological disorders such as strokes, Parkinson's, Multiple Sclerosis and ALS. One reason I am so sure of this, is that in my own practice, when patients with neurological diseases undergo a "heavy metal challenge" test, they all come back with very high levels of lead, mercury, cadmium and more.
I am thoroughly convinced about the need to eliminate heavy metals from the body. This begins with not adding more insult to injury, i.e., knowing sources of heavy metals and other toxins, and eliminating them from your environment, your food and your body. In my experience, once we clean the body of all of these noxious poisons present, and restore proper physiological processes, the disease is often stopped in its tracks. Indeed, all efforts towards creating for yourself a "Bio-Compatible Environment", defined as an environment that is in harmony with the health of your body and your world, are efforts towards better health for you, and your family.
ALS Diet Pages
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Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Please click the PDF icon to the left to read or download the entire 36 page Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Diet by Dr. David Steenblock
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