Type 2 diabetes, with its links to heart disease, vision loss, kidney disease, and other complications, is considered a major public health problem. However, it may also hold solutions, offering clues to ways ALS might be prevented.
“Diabetes has been associated with a lower risk of ALS, particularly in older individuals and in European populations,” explained Dr. Mario Flores, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Alberto Ascherio’s lab at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Interestingly, other cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity and dyslipidemia, have also been linked to lower ALS risk.” (Dyslipidemia refers to elevated levels of cholesterol and/or triglycerides in the blood that contribute to the buildup of plaque in the walls of arteries.)
The relationship between diabetes and ALS is complex, though, with population‐based research sometimes producing conflicting results. For example, a study published in 2015 found that type 2 diabetes was associated with a lower risk of ALS in people living in Denmark, while a separate study published that same year concluded that diabetes increased the odds of developing ALS in people in Taiwan, especially in younger men.
Intrigued by the potential implications for developing ALS prevention strategies—Flores and collaborator Dr. Kjetil Bjornevik, an assistant professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard, are undertaking one of the largest and most comprehensive investigations into the link between diabetes, diet, and ALS to date. They have pooled data from six large U.S.-based studies, which will allow them to analyze decades of health and lifestyle information collected from more than one million people.
Dr. Flores’s research is supported by a 2023 Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship. This program was established in memory of Milton Safenowitz by the Safenowitz family to encourage promising early career scientists to enter and, importantly, remain in the ALS field.
“I have a strong interest in studying modifiable risk factors for neurological diseases that can be translated into effective interventions for disease prevention,” said Dr. Flores, who began his career studying Parkinson’s disease and only recently shifted his focus to ALS.
During this time, he has been struck by just how little can be done to treat the disease, which makes identifying “preventive measures even more important.”
Dr. Flores continues to sift through the data, looking for protective factors linked to diabetes and certain dietary patterns. He hopes what he uncovers will not only provide new insights into ALS development and progression, but will also finally provide people with tangible, evidence-based actions they can take to keep ALS at bay.
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