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British Journal of Healthcare and Medical Research - Vol. 12, No. 02
Publication Date: April 25, 2025
DOI:10.14738/bjhmr.1202.18500.
Gelbard, A. (2025). The Case for Molybdenum in ALS Therapy. British Journal of Healthcare and Medical Research, Vol - 12(02). 140-
142.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
The Case for Molybdenum in ALS Therapy
Amos Gelbard
Rehov HaHardufim, Kibbutz Eilon,
Galil Maaravi, Israel 0502170888
ABSTRACT
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating disease without a known cure
or cause, herein 3 studies will be presented that all somehow contribute to the
possibility of Molybdenum, a chemical element with the atomic number 42 is what's
missing in ALS patients diet leading to their disease, that at least according to one
study done mostly on animals. Both other studies mentioned Molybdenum only as
an afterthought, on a list of many vitamins and minerals contributing to their
interventions. Both studies who used Molybdenum showed decisive results with
one study reporting the thorough healing of an ALS patient and the other, with much
lower levels of Molybdenum per intervention resulted in much better mortality
rates in the intervention group. Brought together these finding warrant further
study of Molybdenum's possible therapeutic role in intervention for ALS.
Keywords: ALS, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Molybdenum, Hypothesis, Theory
Molybdenum is a chemical element; it has symbol Mo (from Neo-Latin molybdaenum) and
atomic number 42.
Molybdenum minerals have been known throughout history, but the element was discovered
(in the sense of differentiating it as a new entity from the mineral salts of other metals) in 1778
by Carl Wilhelm Scheele. The metal was first isolated in 1781 by Peter Jacob Hjelm.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating disease leading to death within 3-5 years
in most cases. The cause is uncertain and neither are possible therapy, herein I will bring a case
for Molybdenum as a possible key player in ALS pathology.
This will be done by reviewing just 3 studies, all of them very interesting in their own way but
in two of them Molybdenum is noted only as an after-thought but still the fact that it's part of
both studies' therapies and the fantastic results shown in both of them make it interesting to at
least reflect on the possible role of Molybdenum as a possible key to ALS therapy in a way only
one study, the first I'll show, acknowledged fully, I'll start with the first result you'll get if you
searched "ALS Molybdenum" on google.
"Molybdenum Deficiency Produces Motor Nervous Effects That Are Consistent with
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis"[1] By Christoper A. Bourke who's done his study on animals
and found that (in his own words) "Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)–motor neuron disease
(MND) is divisible into 6 familial and 10 sporadic syndromes. Familial syndromes are also
recognized in animals, namely, dogs, cattle, rats, and mice. This article is concerned with the
most common form of ALS, sporadic Charcot ALS (SC-ALS). This form is of particular interest
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Gelbard, A. (2025). The Case for Molybdenum in ALS Therapy. British Journal of Healthcare and Medical Research, Vol - 12(02). 140-142.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/bjhmr.1202.18500.
because it does not occur in any animal as a complete disease; instead, each of its three parts
can occur as separate syndromes in sheep, horses, and cats. It is possible that physiological
differences between these animals and humans could explain this separation. In addition, an
understanding of the etiology of each animal syndrome could reveal a common predisposing
factor that is responsible for generating the complete disease" he proceeds to his findings:
"Molybdenum (Mo) deficiency has recently been demonstrated as the predisposing factor for
two of the animal syndromes and the third has a pathogenesis that is consistent with Mo
deficiency. This raises the possibility that Mo deficiency is the predisposing factor for SC-ALS".
[1]
So far interesting but I could understand people looking past this as his study centered mostly
on animals and therefore it lacks sufficient proof. But what do you say about the next study who
reports the successful healing of ALS in one patient? [2]"In a 49-year-old male patient suffering
from muscle weakness and fasciculations, progressive muscular atrophy, a variant of ALS, was
diagnosed after extensive examinations ruling out other diseases. Due to supposed mercury
exposure from residual amalgam, the patient's teeth were restored. Then, the patient received
sodium 2,3-dimercaptopropanesulfate (DMPS; overall 86 × 250 mg in 3 years) in combination
with α-lipoic acid and followed by selenium. In addition, he took vitamins and micronutrients
and kept a vegetarian diet", they proceed to their astonishing success story "The success of the
therapy was followed by scoring muscle weakness and fasciculations and finally by
electromyography (EMG) of the affected muscles. First improvements occurred after the dental
restorations. Two months after starting therapy with DMPS, the mercury level in the urine was
increased (248.4 μg/g creatinine). After 1.5 years, EMG confirmed the absence of typical signs
of ALS. In the course of 3 years, the patient recovered completely." That's all very interesting
you may tell yourselves but what does it got to do with Molybdenum? Well Molybdenum was
part of the treatment protocol on the list of said "vitamins and micronutrients" in the dosage of
200 micrograms.[ "https://karger.com/view-large/figure/15115192/000477397_T03.JPG][2]
Table: Daily dosages of orally applied vitamins, micronutrients, and other supplements
Source: https://karger.com/view-large/figure/15115192/000477397_T03.JPG.
Another study wasn't as far fetched but also showed very interesting results: They tested for
"Effect of complete high-caloric nutrition on the nutritional status and survival rate of
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients after gastrostomy"[3] They begin their abstract saying
that "Complete high-caloric nutrition is emerging as an instrument for dietary intervention in
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British Journal of Healthcare and Medical Research (BJHMR) Vol 12, Issue 02, April-2025
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
disease prevention. Our aim was to evaluate the beneficial effects of complete high-caloric
nutrition on nutritional status and prognosis in ALS patients undergoing percutaneous
gastrostomy." They proceed to their Methodology: "Forty patients with ALS following
percutaneous gastrostomy were randomized to receive either routine diet alone (the control
group) or complete high-caloric nutrition combined with routine diet (the Ensure group) for
six months" This diet I would tell you right now, consists partially of 38 micrograms of
Molybdenum. They proceed with their methodology " Body weight, body mass index (BMI),
nutritional indicator proteins, lipid levels and total lymphocyte count were measured before
intervention and after six months of intervention. At 12 months of follow-up, Kaplan-Meier
survival was generated to evaluate the beneficial effects of complete high-caloric nutrition on
prognosis.
Their results: " After adjustment for baseline, compared with routine diet, body weight, total
lymphocyte count and nutritional indicator proteins including transferrin, albumin,
hemoglobin, and prealbumin were significantly increased at six months of intervention (all
P<0.05). However, we found no significant changes in total cholesterol, triglycerides, low- or
high-density lipoprotein cholesterol or BMI during the intervention in either group (all
P>0.05)."
But here comes the inteeresting part: "Interestingly, the cumulative survival rate of ALS
patients in the Ensure group was significantly better than that of ALS patients in the control
group (P<0.05)" To examine further: "The survival rates of the Ensure group were 100%, 100%
and 80% at 3, 6 and 12 months after gastrostomy respectively, and the control group rates were
80%, 70% and 55%, respectively". Very interesting results indeed.[3]
To conclude: a study examining animals laid the hypothetical ground work to claim that ALS
could be the result of Mo deficiency, while two other, separate studies used Molybdenum as
part of their vitamin intervention with promising results, this could at least warrant further
studying
References
1. Bourke CA. Molybdenum Deficiency Produces Motor Nervous Effects That Are Consistent with Amyotrophic
Lateral Sclerosis. Front Neurol. 2016 Mar 8;7:28. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2016.00028. PMID: 27014182; PMCID:
PMC4782119.
2. Inge Mangelsdorf, Harald Walach, Joachim Mutter; Healing of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Case Report.
Complement Med Res 23 June 2017; 24 (3): 175–181.
3. Wang S, Yuan T, Yang H, Zhou X, Cao J. Effect of complete high-caloric nutrition on the nutritional status and
survival rate of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients after gastrostomy. Am J Transl Res. 2022 Nov
15;14(11):7842-7851. PMID: 36505314; PMCID: PMC973011