Caffeine is beneficial to male ALS patients.

Previous studies have shown that supplementation of coffee, caffeine or chlorogenic acid, a dietary polyphenol that has a positive effect on the immune system, can improve oxidative stress and related cell death mechanisms.

In the new study, the researchers focused on coffee, a globally popular antioxidant. In the course of the experiment, the mice were divided into different groups and ate general food, coffee, caffeine and chlorogenic acid respectively, and the responses of mice of different genders were analyzed.

If the findings are applied to human ALS, coffee has an effect on men, reducing oxidative stress, reducing cell death and increasing oxidants, but appears to be harmful to women, the researchers said.

(SOURCE: Study presented at the 122nd Annual Meeting of the American Physiological Society, April 18-22, 2009 in New Orleans. Http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/ compilation: Huang Wei January 8, 2010)

Related link: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; ALS) is a progressive motor neuron necrotic disease with an prevalence rate of about 2 to 7 per 100 000. The average survival rate of patients with spontaneous disease is about 2 to 5 years. There is still no effective control and treatment in medicine. Most patients will have limb weakness at the initial stage, such as decreased finger flexibility, easy to fall and other abnormal conditions. The progression of the disease is rapid, generally 3-6 months after the onset of limb symptoms, patients will have symptoms such as dysphagia, muscle stiffness, eyelid ptosis and so on (but some also begin directly from swallowing and dyspnea. Generally, the course of the disease to the time of death is shorter). Between one and a half years after the onset, the patient needs wheelchair assistance to move, and the patient soon has muscle stiffness all over the body and cannot move. At the same time, there will be breathing, eating difficulties, must be completely bedridden, most of the patients are conscious. The vast majority of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis die from apnea due to the control of respiratory muscle stiffness and necrosis.

The causes of the disease include heredity (5-10%) and heavy metals (such as lead, manganese.) And toxicants, environmental pollution (too many free radicals damage nerve cells), autoimmunity, viruses, abnormal secretion of hormones related to the nervous system, etc. Dr. Alberto Ascherio, a professor at the Harvard Institute of Public Health, analyzed nearly 1 million people who participated in a cancer prevention study between 1989 and 1998, of whom 525 died of ALS. The risk of developing ALS is 62% less than that of people who take vitamin E supplements less than 15 days a month. Dr. Alberto Ascherio also analyzed the relationship between the intake of vitamin C, another antioxidant nutrient, ─, and ALS. The results showed that vitamin C could not prevent and reduce ALS and its mortality, mainly because vitamin C was water-soluble. The effect of eliminating free radicals of nervous system is not as good as that of fat-soluble vitamin E.