Brain degeneration in Huntington's disease caused by amino acid deficiency

I usually don't put the results of animal testing in this blog unless there is good reason to think it might apply to humans. In this case, the dietary changes are not likely to hurt most people, and are ones that many include for other health purposes.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-03/jhm-bdi032414.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 26-Mar-2014

Contact: Vanessa McMains
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Brain degeneration in Huntington's disease caused by amino acid deficiency

In mice, dietary changes slow down progression of the disease

Working with genetically engineered mice, Johns Hopkins neuroscientists report they have identified what they believe is the cause of the vast disintegration of a part of the brain called the corpus striatum in rodents and people with Huntington's disease: loss of the ability to make the amino acid cysteine. They also found that disease progression slowed in mice that were fed a diet rich in cysteine, which is found in foods such as wheat germ and whey protein.

Their results suggest further investigation into cysteine supplementation as a candidate therapeutic in people with the disease.

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Snyder and Paul say they are cautiously optimistic about the results, noting that although they suggest a possible treatment for Huntington's disease, it's clear that a high cysteine diet merely slows rather than halts the progression of the disease. Moreover, the results in live mice may not occur in humans.