Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ

There appears to be no clinical benefit in treating a rare inherited
disease with ‘Lorenzo’s oil’, according to the findings of a French study
published in the latest issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. The
oil was highly publicised in a recent Hollywood film of the same name.

Lorenzo’s oil is a dietary supplement containing erucic and oleic acids.
In the film it is portrayed as having stopped the progress of the degenerative
disease adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) in a boy called Lorenzo Odone.

The French study, directed by Patrick Aubourg at St Vincent de Paul
Hospital in Paris, tested Lorenzo’s oil for almost three years on 24 adults
and boys in varying stages of ALD. It found that none of the patients improved
during the treatment, the condition of nine of the adults worsened and one
boy developed nerve damage.

In an editorial in the journal, William Rizzo, the neurologist at the
Medical College of Virginia who worked with the Odones in developing the
treatment, says Lorenzo’s oil ‘may be destined for use as adjuvant therapy
at best’