Louis E D, Zheng W, Applegate L, Shi L, Factor-Litvak P
The Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Department of Neurology, Taub Institute for Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Neurology. 2005 Aug 9;65(3):391-6. doi: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000172352.88359.2d.
Beta-carboline alkaloids (e.g., harmane) are highly tremorogenic chemicals. Animal protein (meat) is the major dietary source of these alkaloids. The authors previously demonstrated that blood harmane concentrations were elevated in patients with essential tremor (ET) vs controls. Whether this difference is due to greater animal protein consumption by patients or their failure to metabolize harmane is unknown.
The aim of this study was to determine whether patients with ET and controls differ with regard to 1) daily animal protein consumption and 2) the correlation between animal protein consumption and blood harmane concentration.
Data on current diet were collected with a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire and daily calories and consumption of animal protein and other food types was calculated. Blood harmane concentrations were log-transformed (logHA).
The mean logHA was higher in 106 patients than 161 controls (0.61 +/- 0.67 vs 0.43 +/- 0.72 g(-10)/mL, p = 0.035). Patients and controls consumed similar amounts of animal protein (50.2 +/- 19.6 vs 49.4 +/- 19.1 g/day, p = 0.74) and other food types (animal fat, carbohydrates, vegetable fat) and had similar caloric intakes. In controls, logHA was correlated with daily consumption of animal protein (r = 0.24, p = 0.003); in patients, there was no such correlation (r = -0.003, p = 0.98).
The similarity between patients and controls in daily animal protein consumption and the absence of the normal correlation between daily animal protein consumption and logHA in patients suggests that another factor (e.g., a metabolic defect) may be increasing blood harmane concentration in patients.
β-咔啉生物碱（如哈尔满）是高度致震颤的化学物质。动物蛋白（肉类）是这些生物碱的主要饮食来源。作者之前证明，与对照组相比，特发性震颤（ET）患者血液中哈尔满浓度升高。这种差异是由于患者摄入更多动物蛋白还是他们无法代谢哈尔满尚不清楚。
本研究的目的是确定ET患者与对照组在以下方面是否存在差异：1）每日动物蛋白摄入量；2）动物蛋白摄入量与血液哈尔满浓度之间的相关性。
使用半定量食物频率问卷收集当前饮食数据，并计算每日卡路里以及动物蛋白和其他食物类型的摄入量。对血液哈尔满浓度进行对数转换（logHA）。
106例患者的平均logHA高于161例对照组（0.61±0.67 vs 0.43±0.72 g⁻¹⁰/mL，p = 0.035）。患者和对照组摄入的动物蛋白量相似（50.2±19.6 vs 49.4±19.1 g/天，p = 0.74），其他食物类型（动物脂肪、碳水化合物、植物脂肪）的摄入量相似，热量摄入也相似。在对照组中，logHA与每日动物蛋白摄入量相关（r = 0.24，p = 0.003）；在患者中，不存在这种相关性（r = -0.003，p = 0.98）。
患者与对照组在每日动物蛋白摄入量上的相似性以及患者每日动物蛋白摄入量与logHA之间不存在正常相关性，这表明可能有另一个因素（如代谢缺陷）导致患者血液中哈尔满浓度升高。
