Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and food intake

Abstract

Objective: To verify if specific foods and nutrients could be risk factors or protective factors for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed ALS from three Italian administrative regions were included. For each patient, a healthy control, matched for age (±5 years), sex and administrative region of residence, was selected by a general practitioner. Cases and controls were interviewed by a trained investigator who filled a validated and reproducible food-frequency questionnaire. Daily intake of macronutrients, micronutrients, fatty acids, and total energy were estimated using an Italian food composition database. Results: Two hundred and twelve cases and 212 controls were included. A risk reduction was found for coffee and tea (odds ratios (OR) = 0.29, 95% CI 0.14–0.60), whole bread (OR = 0.55, 95% CI 0.31–0.99), raw vegetables (OR = 0.25, 95% CI 0.13–0.52) and citrus fruits (OR = 0.49, 95% CI 0.25–0.97). A risk increase was observed for red meat (OR = 2.96, 95% CI 1.46–5.99) and pork and processed meat (OR = 3.87, 95% CI 1.86–8.07). An increased risk was found for total protein (OR = 2.96, 95% CI 1.08–8.10), animal protein (OR = 2.91, 95% CI 1.33–6.38), sodium (OR = 3.96, 95% CI 1.45–10.84), zinc (OR = 2.78, 95% CI 1.01–7.83) and glutamic acid (OR = 3.63, 95% CI 1.08–12.2). Conclusions: Some foods/nutrients may be risk factors and others protective factors for ALS.

Keywords:

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• nutrition
• case-control
• Italy

Declaration of interest

Dr. Pupillo reports grants from European Union, during the conduct of the study; grants from Fondazione Borgonovo, outside the submitted work.

Dr. Bianchi has nothing to disclose.

Dr. Chiò reports grants from European Union, during the conduct of the study; personal fees from Biogen Idec, personal fees from Mitsubishi Tanabe, personal fees from Neuraltus, grants from Italfarmaco, outside the submitted work.

Dr. Casale reports grants from European Union, during the conduct of the study.

Dr. Zecca reports grants from European Union, during the conduct of the study.

Dr. Tortelli reports grants from European Union, during the conduct of the study.

Dr. Beghi reports grants from European Union, during the conduct of the study; grants from UCB-Pharma, grants from Shire, grants from EISAI, personal fees from Viropharma, grants from Italian Ministry of Health, grants from Fondazione Borgonovo, grants from Associazione IDIC 15, outside the submitted work.

Supplementary material available online

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by European Community’s Health Seventh Framework Program 2007–2013 (grant agreement 259867).