Not everyone benefits from sports and can cause a fatal disease.

Regular and intense physical activity increases the risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in people genetically predisposed to this disease, although most of them are not even aware of the danger that threatens them. Writes about it with the BBC.

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This conclusion was reached by a group of scientists from Sheffield University in Britain. The study authors are not encouraging anyone to quit sports, but hope that the data they obtained will help identify people at risk.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease or Charcot's disease, is an incurable, progressive neurodegenerative disease. It affects the cells of the spinal cord (motor neurons), which provide coordination of movements and maintenance of muscle tone. As a result, the transmission of brain impulses to the muscles is disrupted, which leads to increasing weakness in the patient, gradually covering all muscle groups.

As more and more motor neurons die, the patient's movements become difficult, breathing and speech problems begin. Death most often occurs as a result of the failure of the respiratory muscles.

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ALS is a very rare disease, affecting only about 0,3% of the world's population. At the same time, it is known that the onset and development of the disease is due to both genetics and unfavorable factors accumulated during life.

Scientists have long discovered a link between increased physical training and illness, but they could not understand if it could be considered a cause and effect or if there were some third factors involved.

In particular, Italian footballers are known to suffer from ALS six times more often than the average. Many other athletes spoke openly about their illness, including former Liverpool defender Stephen Darby and Zenit St. Petersburg midfielder Fernando Rixen, who died of Charcot's disease in 2019.

“Our final conclusion is that vigorous exercise is indeed a risk factor for the development of ALS,” said study co-author Dr Jonathan Cooper-Nock. “It is no coincidence that the percentage of prominent athletes suffering from this disease is disproportionately high.”

Scientists analyzed DNA samples from about half a million people stored in the British Bank for Biological Information. Using a technique known as Mendel's randomization, they found that people who are genetically predisposed to intense physical activity are also more susceptible to ALS.

The study claims that as a result of regular physical exercise, certain genes mutate - and in people with a hereditary predisposition to developing ALS, the disease develops earlier if they exercise regularly and intensely.

By "regular and intense" in the article we mean workouts done at least two to three times a week and lasting at least half an hour.

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At the same time, scientists emphasize that most people who train in this mode do not get sick, and it is not yet clear how to identify people at risk. Nevertheless, based on the results of the work, they hope to create a method for early diagnosis and prevention of the disease - similar to the one that already exists to check the susceptibility of football players to heart problems.

“We don’t know who is at risk, and we have absolutely no intention of advising people on who can exercise and who can’t. If everyone quits exercising, more harm will come out than good,” said Dr. Cooper-Nock.

“Our study brings us closer to understanding the relationship between high physical activity and the occurrence of ALS in people with a family history of the disease,” said Professor Pamela Shaw, head of the Institute of Neurosciences in Sheffield.

Reduced oxygen levels in the body during intense exercise are thought to cause so-called oxidative stress on motor neurons, which are some of the largest and most oxygen-consuming cells in our body.

In genetically vulnerable people, this leads to damage and death of these motor neurons.

Dr. Brian Dickey of the ALS charity association believes that colleagues from Sheffield are in the right direction and more work is needed.

Genetic and environmental factors in ALS have so far been studied independently, he says, and this study has brought them together.

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