Article Text

See original article:

This article has a correction. Please see:

Download PDFPDF
Intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E reduces the risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  1. J H Veldink1,
  2. S Kalmijn1,
  3. G-J Groeneveld1,
  4. W Wunderink3,
  5. A Koster3,
  6. J H M de Vries3,
  7. J van der Luyt1,
  8. J H J Wokke1,
  9. L H Van den Berg2
  1. 1Department of Neurology, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
  2. 2Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht
  3. 3Department of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
  1. Correspondence to:
 Jan H Veldink
 Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Utrecht, G.03.228, PO Box 85500, 3508 GA Utrecht, The Netherlands; j.h.veldink{at}umcutrecht.nl

Abstract

Background: To assess whether the premorbid dietary intake of fatty acids, cholesterol, glutamate or antioxidants was associated with the risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Methods: Patients referred to our clinic during 2001–2002, who had definite, probable or possible ALS according to El Escorial criteria, without a familial history of ALS, were asked to participate in a case–control study (132 patients and 220 healthy controls). A food-frequency questionnaire was used to assess dietary intake for the nutrients of interest. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed with adjustment for confounding factors (sex, age, level of education, energy intake, body mass index and smoking).

Results: A high intake of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and vitamin E was significantly associated with a reduced risk of developing ALS (PUFA: odds ratio (OR) = 0.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.2 to 0.7, p = 0.001; vitamin E: OR = 0.4, 95% CI = 0.2 to 0.7, p = 0.001). PUFA and vitamin E appeared to act synergistically, because in a combined analysis the trend OR for vitamin E was further reduced from 0.67 to 0.37 (p = 0.02), and that for PUFA from 0.60 to 0.26 (p = 0.005), with a significant interaction term (p = 0.03). The intake of flavonols, lycopene, vitamin C, vitamin B2, glutamate, calcium or phytoestrogens was not associated with the risk of developing ALS.

Conclusion: A high intake of PUFAs and vitamin E is associated with a 50–60% decreased risk of developing ALS, and these nutrients appear to act synergistically.

  • ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  • BMI, body mass index
  • PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acid

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Published Online First 28 April 2006

  • Published Online First 28 April 2006

  • Competing interests: None.

  • The institutional ethical committee of the University Medical Center Utrecht approved the study protocol.

Linked Articles