How Chris McCandless Died (Krakauer updates "Into the Wild")

[Recursion]

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/09/how-chris-mccandless-died.html

According to Dr. Fernand Lambein, a Belgian scientist who coördinates the Cassava Cyanide Diseases and Neurolathyrism Network, occasional consumption of foodstuffs containing ODAP “as one component of an otherwise balanced diet, bears not any risk of toxicity.” Lambein and other experts warn, however, that individuals suffering from malnutrition, stress, and acute hunger are especially sensitive to ODAP, and are thus highly susceptible to the incapacitating effects of lathyrism after ingesting the neurotoxin.

Considering that potentially crippling levels of ODAP are found in wild-potato seeds, and given the symptoms McCandless described and attributed to the wild-potato seeds he ate, there is ample reason to believe that McCandless contracted lathyrism from eating those seeds. As Ronald Hamilton observed, McCandless exactly matched the profile of those most susceptible to ODAP poisoning:

He was a young, thin man in his early 20s, experiencing an extremely meager diet; who was hunting, hiking, climbing, leading life at its physical extremes, and who had begun to eat massive amounts of seeds containing a toxic amino acid. A toxin that targets persons exhibiting and experiencing precisely those characteristics and conditions ….

It might be said that Christopher McCandless did indeed starve to death in the Alaskan wild, but this only because he’d been poisoned, and the poison had rendered him too weak to move about, to hunt or forage, and, toward the end, “extremely weak,” “too weak to walk out,” and, having “much trouble just to stand up.” He wasn’t truly starving in the most technical sense of that condition. He’d simply become slowly paralyzed. And it wasn’t arrogance that had killed him, it was ignorance. Also, it was ignorance which must be forgiven, for the facts underlying his death were to remain unrecognized to all, scientists and lay people alike, literally for decades.

[dkf]

1. How very tragic.

[hlthe2b]

2. Fascinating.... I think most who read that book have lingering thoughts on McCandless & plight...

I know I did. I'm glad to have seen this follow-up. Thanks for posting.

[MuseRider]

4. Yes,

It bothered me for a long long time. I am also glad to see this follow up.

[adirondacker]

3. "Oxalyldiaminopropionic acid (ODAP), a structural analogue of the neurotransmitter glutamate,

is the neurotoxin responsible for lathyrism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalyldiaminopropionic_acid

Symptoms
The consumption of large quantities of Lathyrus grain containing high concentrations of the glutamate analogue neurotoxin β-oxalyl-L-α,β-diaminopropionic acid (ODAP, also known as β-N-oxalyl-amino-L-alanine, or BOAA) causes paralysis, characterized by lack of strength in or inability to move the lower limbs, and may involve pyramidal tracts producing UMN signs. The toxin may also cause aortic aneurysm.[2][3] A unique symptom of lathyrism is the atrophy of gluteal muscles (buttocks). ODAP is a poison of mitochondria[3] leading to excess cell death, especially in motor neurons

Source Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathyrism

Had to look up ODAP.

Interesting article and thanks for posting! It's sad and tragic Christopher didn't make it out alive.

[Kennah]

5. I read "Into The Wild" and I did not think Krakauer glorified Chris McCandless' death

Krakauer understood and perhaps even identified with McCandless, and I must admit that I did to some degree as well. While there was arrogance in Chris McCandless, he did not venture off completely unprepared. Chris McCandless was in part tragically misled by the writings of people in the know about wild plants.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

6. Didn't read the book, but saw the movie. Sad story, heard he could have crossed the river upstream.

And who knows why he didn't go upstream to look for a ford....

[Skittles]

8. why didn't he start a fire?

smoke signals, you know

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

9. He'd simply become slowly paralyzed. And in spring I doubt a fire would burn well.

From the OP:
It might be said that Christopher McCandless did indeed starve to death in the Alaskan wild, but this only because he’d been poisoned, and the poison had rendered him too weak to move about, to hunt or forage, and, toward the end, “extremely weak,” “too weak to walk out,” and, having “much trouble just to stand up.” He wasn’t truly starving in the most technical sense of that condition. He’d simply become slowly paralyzed.

[mzmolly]

7. Very interesting

update. Thanks for sharing.