Riddle of the sphinx:
"What has one voice, and is four-footed, two-footed and three-footed?"
A human being.
Lathyrism, a neurodegenerative disorder, three progressive stages:limping (two-footed)walking withstick (three-footed) crawling (four-footed).
The Greeks have used Lathyrus sativus (grasspea), L. clymenum and L. ochrus (greek: fava) as food since antiquity.
Global Production1-1,5 Mio ha0.7 - 1 Mio t of grain+/- forage
Also in
ChileCanadaChinaAustralia
Food & FeedNo problem withtoxicity
Neurolathyrism is intricately linked to famine (due to drought or conflict), poverty and malnutrition.
Malnutrition is also an important factor associated with other neurodegenerative afflictions such as Konzo (neuro-cassavaism) and optic neuropathy.
Eradicate lathyrism !
Reduce toxicity (ODAP) in cultivars and provide adapted non-toxic varieties to grasspea eaters
Manage nutritional stress
(famines, poverty) & excessive grasspea consumption
Identify undernourished grasspea eaters during times of hardship
Monitor grasspea production, consumption and prices
Educate about processing options (detoxification) + supplements
Intensive educational Intensive educational programmeprogramme
Fight against lathyrism is Fight against lathyrism is part of the fight against part of the fight against povertypoverty and and ignoranceignorance
Arya, L. S et al. (1988). Lathyrism in Afghanistan. Indian Journal of Pediatrics 55 (3):440-442
Governments need to pay attention to the potential threat of neurolathyrism and provide contingency plans to deal with high risk areas during times of famine. (Enneking, 1998)
Reduction of poverty and malnutrition in lathyrism prone areas are likely to provide the best solution
to this problem (Enneking, 1998)
Grain legumes are deficient in sulfur amino acids
Except, Non Protein sulfur amino acids, not available for nutritional utilisation:Vigna & Acacia spp. (glutamyl-S-methyl-cysteine sulphoxide)
Vicia (V. narbonensis et al.) (glutamyl-S-ethenyl-cysteine)
Their anti-nutritional factors deplete sulfur amino acids in predators
Many target glutathione (glu-cys-gly) dependent systems
Lathyrus sativus seeds contain:
Low levels of sulfur amino acids
Trypsin inhibitors [high SAA]
Tannins
Lectins
ODAP
Thiol Oxidation and Loss of Mitochondrial Complex I Precede ODAP mediated neurodegeneration= thiol reversible, male/female differencesSriram et al. Journal of Neuroscience 1998,18(24):10287–10296
see also review by Ravrindranath (2002) Neurochemistry Intl. 40, 505-509
Hypothesis:
A lack of reduced thiols predisposes to lathyrism
This is caused by depletion through antinutrients, low intake of SAA, oxidative stress and/or genetic defect (s) in thiol metabolism
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