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When ALS and MS share the same map: What new research reveals about the brain and the world around us

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When researchers recently mapped deaths from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) across the United States, they noticed something unexpected. The distribution wasn’t random. Certain regions consistently showed higher rates of the disease.


Curious, they did the same for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) — another serious neurological condition that, like ALS, affects the brain and spinal cord. To their surprise, the two maps almost perfectly overlapped.


This observation became the foundation of a new study published in Scientific Reports (Nature, 2025), which found a striking geographic association between ALS and MS. Even after adjusting for variables such as age, race, income, access to neurologists, and sunlight exposure, the correlation remained strong.



A closer look at the findings


The study used data from two major sources: the CDC WONDER Mortality Database in the United States and the World Health Organization’s Mortality Database for global comparisons.


In the U.S. data, states with higher ALS mortality also had higher MS mortality, a pattern that held true even when other factors were accounted for.


When the researchers included ALS data in statistical models predicting MS rates, the typical north–south gradient (long thought to be linked to sunlight and vitamin D) became less influential. This suggests that geography, and the environmental or lifestyle exposures associated with it, could be contributing factors in both diseases.


Globally, similar patterns emerged, though with less precision due to inconsistent reporting between countries. Still, the findings raised an important question: Why would two distinct neurological conditions show up in the same places?



Searching for the link


While ALS and MS affect different parts of the nervous system, ALS primarily damaging motor neurons and MS involving immune-mediated injury to myelin, both share biological pathways that make the nervous system vulnerable to stress and degeneration.


Across multiple studies, these include:


• Mitochondrial dysfunction – a reduced ability of cells to generate and manage energy

• Oxidative stress – an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants that damages nerve tissue

• Chronic inflammation – the immune system attacking or failing to repair nerve structures


These cellular mechanisms were not examined in the new geographic study, but they provide important context for how environmental and lifestyle factors might contribute biologically to disease risk.


The Scientific Reports (2025) study found that ALS and MS mortality rates cluster in the same U.S. regions, even after adjusting for age, race, income, access to neurologists, and sunlight exposure. This pattern suggests that shared external or environmental influences, including pollutants, toxins, or regional lifestyle factors, could be contributing to both conditions.


Previous research has linked pesticide exposure, heavy metals, and solvents with ALS (Goutman et al., 2022), while low vitamin D levels and latitude have long been associated with MS (Ascherio et al., 2014).


Although this new study does not prove causation, it strengthens the idea that geography may reflect modifiable external influences interacting with genetic susceptibility, helping to explain why these diseases appear in similar regions.



What this means for brain health


For decades, conditions like ALS and MS were viewed almost entirely through a genetic lens, something written into our DNA and beyond our control. But this research suggests that the picture may be broader.


It highlights the possibility that our surroundings, nutrition, and overall lifestyle could contribute to how our nervous system ages and responds to stress. That doesn’t mean these factors cause disease, but that they may influence resilience, how well our cells manage energy, inflammation, and repair.


While this research doesn’t yet identify specific environmental causes, it reminds us that the same biological pathways affected by these exposures, oxidative stress, inflammation, and mitochondrial imbalance, are areas where nutrition and lifestyle can support long-term neurological resilience.


Understanding these patterns allows scientists and clinicians to ask more targeted questions about prevention and support.



The role of nutrition and Functional Medicine


At You Nutrition Clinic, we follow emerging research like this closely because it reinforces something fundamental: nutrition and functional medicine are central to supporting the body’s defences against oxidative stress, inflammation, and mitochondrial damage.


While no dietary or lifestyle intervention can treat or cure ALS or MS, supporting cellular energy metabolism, antioxidant capacity, and nervous-system repair can help promote resilience and improve overall wellbeing.


Our aim is to translate complex neuroscience into practical, evidence-based strategies that support long-term brain and nervous-system health.



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