Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Getahun, Haileyesus
• Lambein, Fernand
• Vanhoorne, Michel
• Van der Stuyft, Patrick

Titel

Food-aid cereals to reduce neurolathyrism related to grass-pea preparations during famine

Ist Teil von

• The Lancet (British edition), 2003-11, Vol.362 (9398), p.1808-1810

Ort / Verlag

England: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2003

Quelle

PBSC : Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection - Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Neurolathyrism is a spastic paraparesis that can be caused by excessive consumption of the drought-resistant grass pea ( Lathyrus sativus). Devastating neurolathyrism epidemics have occurred during major famine crises in various parts of the world. We investigated in a case-control study the effects of food aid on risk of paralysis. Risk increased with consumption of boiled grass pea (adjusted odds ratio 2·78, 95% CI 1·09–7·13 with cereals; 5·22, 2·01–13·55 without cereal) and raw unripe green grass pea (1·96, 1·16–3·31; p=0·011), but not with the fermented pancake, unleavened bread, and gravy preparations. In a correlational study there was an inverse relation between the number of new cases and the amount of food-aid cereals distributed per person. During famine, cereals and nutritional information should reach people before they have grass pea as the only food.