Study: Increased metals double the risk of "Stephen Hawking's disease"

Doctors from the United States have discovered that high concentrations of copper, zinc, selenium and others in the human body triple the risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The University of Michigan's media office points out that these minerals exacerbate this disease that affects the nervous system, which the famous physicist Stephen Hawking suffered from throughout his life. Numerous studies have linked the development of this disease to increased concentrations of minerals in the body.

Based on this, the researchers studied and followed the condition of 450 patients with the disease and 300 healthy volunteers of the same sex and age. The study included measuring the concentration of minerals in the body fluids of all participants, and comparing them.

The comparison showed that the patients' bodies contained high concentrations of the metals aluminum, barium, cadmium, selenium, uranium, tin, vanadium, zinc and copper. The calculations revealed that high concentrations of these metals combined increased the risk of developing ALS by 2.7 times, and this indicator did not decrease even when taking into account all genetic factors.

In addition, a 1.5-fold increase in the concentration of these metals in the body increases the risk of disease progression and death. This was particularly evident in the case of high concentrations of tin, copper, zinc and selenium in body fluids, indicating their role in the development of the disease.

The researchers also found that higher concentrations of other metals, including strontium, nickel and antimony, reduce the risk of ALS. This, they say, will help understand their effect on the processes associated with nerve cell death in the brain of people with the disease.

It is worth noting that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis affects the central nervous system and is incurable. It leads to paralysis of the limbs and muscle atrophy, and as a rule, the patient dies within 2-5 years.