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Washed cycad flour contains β‐n‐methyl amino‐L‐alanine and may explain parkinsonism symptoms

The study reported by Dr. Shen and the group from the University of Maryland and their follow-up study of sleep alterations in their new model of parkinsonism produced by feeding cycad flour to rats are very interesting. Shen et al mention b-Nmethylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) as one of the incriminated neurotoxins in cycad seeds and review the work of the Vancouver group on plant sterols in washed cycad flour. In discussion of the factor(s) responsible for the neurotoxicity in this new rat model, it is important to remember that washing cycad flour removes only free BMAA, and that 7 to 30 as much BMAA remains within the protein fraction of washed cycad flour. We found that cycad flour contained from 28 to 169lg/g of protein-bound BMAA, depending on the washing procedure. Duncan et al found that, despite washing, cycad flour prepared by Chamorros and sold at village markets contained up to 152lg/g of free BMAA, suggesting that the protein-bound BMAA fraction in his samples might have been even higher than we found.