Neurotoxic flying foxes as dietary items for the Chamorro people, Marianas Islands

• Published in: Journal of ethnopharmacology 2006-06, Vol.106 (1), p.97-104
• Main Authors: Banack, Sandra Anne, Murch, Susan J., Cox, Paul Alan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ALS/PDC; Amino Acids, Diamino - metabolism; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Biomagnification; BMAA; chemical constituents of plants; Chiroptera; Cycadopsida - chemistry; Cycadopsida - metabolism; Cycas; Cycas micronesica; Diet; ethnobotany; flour; food contamination; foxes; General pharmacology; Guam; Humans; Marine Toxins; Medical sciences; Neurotoxic foods; Neurotoxins; nonprotein amino acids; Pharmacognosy. Homeopathy. Health food; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; poisonous plants; Pteropus; Pteropus mariannus; seeds; Seeds - chemistry; Seeds - metabolism; toxicology; traditional foods
• ISSN: 0378-8741; 1872-7573
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2005.12.032

Fanihi – flying foxes ( Pteropus mariannus mariannus, Pteropodidae) – are a highly salient component of the traditional Chamorro diet. A neurotoxic, non-protein amino acid, β-methylamino- l-alanine (BMAA) accumulates in flying foxes, which forage on the seeds of Cycas micronesica (Cycadaceae) in Guam's forests. BMAA occurs throughout flying fox tissues both as a free amino acid and in a protein-bound form. It is not destroyed by cooking. Protein-bound BMAA also remains in cycad flour which has been washed and prepared by the Chamorro people as tortillas, dumplings, and thickened soups. Other animals that forage on cycad seeds may also provide BMAA inputs into the traditional Chamorro diet.