Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. According to U.S. population studies, approximately 6,000 people in the U.S are diagnosed with ALS each year, with an estimated 20,000 Americans living with the disease at any given time. The average survival time is three years and currently there is no known cure. However, through millions of dollars of research, scientists have hypothesized a variety of explanations for factors that might increase the risk of ALS.
The Risk Factors
Though it is known that ALS can affect anyone, occurring throughout the world with no racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic boundaries, research has shown that it occurs in greater percentages as men and women grow older, and it is significantly more common in men than women. Additionally, military veterans are approximately twice as likely to develop ALS and many athletes are known to be diagnosed with ALS later in life. There have been several research studies investigating additional risk factors that may contribute to ALS, with the argument being that environmental factors in conjunction with genetic susceptibility cause the disease. Here is a list of the most common risk factors discussed today:
- BMAA (Beta-methylamino-I-amine)
- Toxins: metals, solvents, radiation
- Exercise
- Smoking
The Link
As mentioned previously, it has been found that the link between military veterans and ALS is significantly high, in specific military veterans from the Gulf War. Some scientists believe that for veterans born with a genetic flaw that predisposes them to ALS, the military’s exhausting physical demand perhaps triggers the disease to erupt later. Others hypothesize that the vaccinations military veterans had to receive before deployment could play a role in the onset of the disease. However, a more a more popular link, one that was studied by the University of Cincinnati and Duke, Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, controlled for neural toxins and found that the veterans stationed at the munitions dump in Khamisiyah, Iraq during the Gulf War experienced a heightened risk of disease. During the demolition of this dump, a low level of nerve agent and smoke from the oil well fires were released consistently.
Consistent with this hypothesis, on the small island of Guam, there is a large munitions storage area. Rates of ALS are similarly high in people living in Guam, just as they are in military veterans stationed around munitions sites during the Gulf War.
