Professional soccer players may be vulnerable to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a new study suggests.
The Italian researchers also found that soccer players may develop the neurodegenerative disease at a much younger age than people in the general population.
ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, affects nerve cells that control voluntary muscle movement such as walking or talking. There is no cure for the disease, which eventually leads to death, most often from respiratory failure.
Oxford Biodynamics PLC (LON:OBD) was spun out from Oxford University in June 2007 with the aim of translating fundamental scientific advances into a commercialised platform technology and a new generation of biomarkers for cancer and other diseases including ALS.