Cycads, athletic head injuries, and ALS

[mugaliens]

I recently ran across a couple of comments to this article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100817/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_head_injuries_als)before wondering "what are cycads?" A quick Wiki search revealed the following comment: "There is some indication that the regular consumption of starch derived from cycads is a factor in the development of Lytico-Bodig disease, a neurological disease with symptoms similar to those of Parkinson's disease and ALS." - Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycad#Uses)

As an athlete who's had several head injuries over the years, but one who has never eaten cycads (that I know of), what might I expect? What should I do? Avoid brown rice? Continue to exercise my body and brain, eat right, stay healthy? Avoid meat from those areas (which I might add includes some of the S.A. meat eaten here in the US...)?

[loseyourname]

I'd probably worry more about solanine if you're worried about neurotoxin ingestion from food, although even that isn't usually found in a very high concentration in anything unless you're eating diseased potatoes.

There are schools of nutritional practitioners that won't eat plants requiring processing for this basic reason. An animal's defense against predation is to run or fight. Plants can't do that, so they tend to develop means of harming whatever eats them.