Foie gras may be linked to Alzheimer's

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., June 21 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers discovered a link between foie gras prepared from goose or duck liver and the type of amyloid found in rheumatoid arthritis or Alzheimer's.

The experimental data, appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has provided the first evidence that a food product may hasten amyloid development.

Amyloidosis is a disease process involving the deposit of normal or mutated proteins that have become misfolded. In this unstable state, such proteins form hair-like fibers, or fibrils, that are deposited into vital organs like the heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas and brain. This process leads to organ failure and, eventually, death. There are many types of amyloid-related diseases in addition to rheumatoid arthritis, such as Alzheimer's disease and type 2 diabetes, according to study leader Dr. Alan Solomon, of the University of Tennessee.

Solomon's team analyzed commercially sold U.S. and French foie gras and found that they contained a type of amyloid called AA.

"It is not known if there is an increase of Alzheimer's disease, diabetes or other amyloid-related disease in people who have eaten foie gras," Solomon said in a statement. "Eating foie gras probably won't cause a disease in someone who isn't genetically predisposed to it."