Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Diet Review

first_pagesettings Open AccessReview Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Diet Review by Salvatore D'Antona 1ORCID,Martina Caramenti 1ORCID,Danilo Porro 1,Isabella Castiglioni 2ORCID andClaudia Cava 1,*ORCID 1 Institute of Bioimaging and Molecular Physiology, National Research Council (IBFM-CNR), Via F.lli Cervi 93, 20054 Milan, Italy 2 Department of Physics "G. Occhialini", University of Milan-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 3, 20126 Milan, Italy * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Academic Editors: Isabel Borrás and Jesús Lozano-Sánchez Foods 2021, 10(12), 3128; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10123128 Received: 1 December 2021 / Revised: 13 December 2021 / Accepted: 14 December 2021 / Published: 17 December 2021 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Disease Prevention by Food Bioactives) Download PDF Browse Figures Citation Export Abstract Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal disease related to upper and lower motor neurons degeneration. Although the environmental and genetic causes of this disease are still unclear, some factors involved in ALS onset such as oxidative stress may be influenced by diet. A higher risk of ALS has been correlated with a high fat and glutamate intake and ?-methylamino-L-alanine. On the contrary, a diet based on antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds, such as curcumin, creatine, coenzyme Q10, vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin C, and phytochemicals could reduce the risk of ALS. However, data are controversial as there is a discrepancy among different studies due to a limited number of samples and the many variables that are involved. In addition, an improper diet could lead to an altered microbiota and consequently to an altered metabolism that could predispose to the ALS onset. In this review we summarized some research that involve aspects related to ALS such as the epidemiology, the diet, the eating behaviour, the microbiota, and the metabolic diseases. Further research is needed to better comprehend the role of diet and the metabolic diseases in the mechanisms leading to ALS onset and progression.