Saturday 25 February 2012

News Brief: Eating shark fin could cause brain damage

People who like to eat shark fin should be careful, and not just because environmental groups want to stop consumption of this delicacy. Researchers in the United States have discovered the neurotoxin β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (甲氨基-丙氨酸; BMAA) in shark fin, which could cause brain damage or lead to Alzheimer’s disease (阿茲海默症), ETTV (東森新聞) reports today (full Chinese-language article here, and related English-language article here).
 
Concentrations of BMAA  found ranged from 144 to 1,838 nanograms per milligram, which were noted to be similar with the levels found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease.



Translation © Jiyue Publications 2012

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