Could there be a link between the enteric neurons, gut microbiome and ALS?

[SilentEchoes]

Bolt, look what just came through my news feed.

mdlinx.com/news/could-there...

Both a research paper and a research review suggest a potential role of intestinal inflammation and microbiome in the development and/or the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Is it the cause, an effect or a cofactor?? My critical thinking says a cofactor.

Here's the hint that Dr. Sun knows the cause. Sun said she heard about U.S. military veterans who suffered from GI issues while they were serving overseas and later diagnosed with ALS. Several research studies have shown veterans have an elevated risk of developing ALS. Sun said there are still few answers as to why to those who served in the military are at a higher risk of ALS. [It was exposure to nerve agents.]

There was a group of doctors in environmental medicine working very hard on this 20 years ago. I was privileged to call one of them "my" doctor. The doctors and GW vets are dying off. I feel like Sun is studying their research.

The ALS mice were treated with butyrate or antibiotics to investigate the microbiome and neuromuscular functions. They found the mice had significant alteration of the microbiome, decreased intestine mobility and physical stamina before the onset of ALS.

For mice that were treated with BUTYRATE, these decreases took significantly longer to appear, according to the study. The treated mice had enhanced enteric neuromuscular function and showed an altered bacterial community related to AUTOIMMUNITY—changes that demonstrate a link between the microbiome and intestinal mobility.

Is this acknowledgement of an autoimmune process??

Sun said their pioneering research in the microbiome and intestinal dysfunction is getting noticed in the ALS community. Sun and her team are standing on the shoulders of giants. I hope she remembers this.

SE

[Bolt_Upright]

It makes sense if ALS and PD are on a spectrum. Fixing the gut is one of my priorities.

[Smittybear7]

Thanks for sharing! Looks promising

[rebtar]

I take a butyrate supplement. I’m not a veteran but lived in Central America and Mexico for more than a decade. I had several bouts of intestinal parasites that had to be treated with antibiotics. Both the parasites and antibiotic exposure could be a factor.

[SilentEchoes]

I think it's the glyphosate contaminated food. It's patented as an antibiotic too. The problem is glyphosate destroys the beneficial bacteria while c-diff survives (shown on animal studies). This is another reason to cleanup the diet and eat organic whole foods.

[SilentEchoes]

I want to add that my family was already transitioned to organic and we had a healthy home when I was poisoned. I attribute outliving my dx to this. We rarely know beforehand what a person's ability is to withstand a toxic insult. Stress, nutrition, chronic diseases, age, all factor into tipping us over. I believe in my heart that when we understand the cause we can unwind it by giving our body the support it needs to heal

Will we be perfect? Probably not. Were we perfect before? Perfection isn't my goal.

Also, naysayers will point to incomplete healing as proof the disease (injury) didn't exist. Scars are the proof (my MRIs show the damage to my brain). We shouldn't give people like this our time, it's not our journey to convince them.

[pmmargo]

i thought als was genetic and that a biomarker exists in childrens teeth.

mountsinai.org/about/newsro...

best regards, paul

[SilentEchoes in reply to pmmargo]

~5% have genetic risk factors (35 genes identified so far) the majority of pALS are sporadic just like PD. I just read a study where University of Illinois researchers discovered the toxin that kills the nerve cells - it's universal to all eukaryotes. I wish I had written it down, pPoly something.

Most people with PD don't carry a genetic mutation. I don't carry any of the ALS mutations. I have a PD one though, it's called PARK9 and it's a risk factor for.... ALS 🤔

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/309...

ALS is more than one disease and can include parkinsonism.

The bottom line, with a few exceptions, neurodegenerative diseases are environmental illnesses and the genes identified so far, reveal genetic susceptibility to environmental toxins.

There are a lot of neurotoxic substances in our environment that we're exposed to daily. When a person is exposed to small amounts on a regular basis, like in their work, and develops PD, a temporal relationship can be established. I had a serious acute exposure, this is called poisoning. As a result, I developed a more agressive neurodegenerative disease.

SE