Lathyrism is a disease caused by eating seeds of species of Lathyrus (the grass pea), mainly L. sativus (the chickling pea or khesari), L. cicera (flat-podded vetch) and L. clymenum (Spanish vetchling). It affects mostly people in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Algeria but is sometimes found in France, Italy, Spain and Australia. This disease affects horses and cattle as well as in man. Beta-oxalyl-amino-L-alanine acid (BOAA), an excitatory neurotoxin and glutamate agonist, has been identified as the constituent of the chickling pea responsible for the disease. BOAA appears to exert its effects through mitochondrial toxicity.1
This is a companion discussion topic for the original article at https://patient.info/doctor/neurology/lathyrism