Chapter 2.7: β-Methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA)
The chapter includes discussions of the formation and history of the BMAA-human neurodegenerative disease hypothesis on both Guam and the U.S.; the postulated human exposures from foods and environmental exposures; evidence for the relationship of BMAA and human disease; the toxicity of BMAA in laboratory animal studies; possible mechanisms of neurotoxicity; and the chemical analysis of BMAA. The Conclusion of the chapter is that the evidence for BMAA being a single cause of neurodegenerative diseases in Guam, where it was first studied , as well as the rest of the world, is extremely weak or absent, and other possibilities should be studied, both singly and as additive factors.