Originally published October 27 2005
Doctors counteract urine disease with liver transplants
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Maple syrup urine disease, a rare genetic disease that severely restricts the sufferer's diet, is now being treated with liver transplants, and the results, according to Dr. George Mazariegos of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, look promising.
Liver transplants seem to be curing about a dozen children of a rare disease so unforgiving that the slightest dietary misstep can prove brain-damaging or even fatal.
Now instead of a life of fear with every bite of a strict low-protein diet, these patients with maple syrup urine disease eat ice cream, hamburgers and other normal kid fare.
And doctors are studying whether the transplants don't just avert future problems but also might help children who already had suffered some brain damage to get a little better.
"Subjectively we're noting things like improved attention span, better speech, areas we are thrilled that are occurring," says Dr. George Mazariegos of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, who is about to publish in a medical journal the first results of this dramatic new approach to treating the genetic disease.
Maple syrup urine disease, named for the telltale symptom of sweet-smelling urine, occurs in about one in 225,000 births.
Those amino acids can build up to toxic levels, causing mental retardation, physical disabilities from neurologic damage, and even death.
To survive, patients are put on a lifelong diet super-low in protein; many patients' primary nourishment is a special liquid formula.
Because some protein is in most foods, restrictions on other fare go beyond no meat or dairy products.
Jakob, for instance, liked potatoes but his mother carried a scale to measure precisely the handful of french fries his body could tolerate.
Diet aside, even a minor illness that causes children not to eat on schedule can send them into seizures as their bodies break down stored protein.
Five had mild symptoms of organ rejection, controlled with medication.
The median age of his patients is six; the youngest was 1 1/2 and the oldest 20.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml