Depression & PKU Living with PKU Living with PKU is hard, you need to follow a very restricted diet for life which may involve eating and drinking foods and protein substitutes that you may not like. Feelings of isolation, loneliness and embarrassment can start to develop as a result. Dr Gisela Wilcox at the Salford…
PKU – What is happening inside you? PKU is the best known of the rare inherited metabolic disorders. It is caused by a genetic deficiency of the enzyme needed to convert one essential amino acid (phenylalanine) to another (tyrosine). It results in too much phenylalanine and not enough tyrosine. PKU can cause profound effects on…
International PKU Day Every year on the 28th of June, the PKU community joins together to celebrate International PKU Day. It’s one of the most talked about days in the PKU community calendar, and a time where families, patients, charities and companies join together to raise awareness of Phenylketonuria. Raising Awareness A brief chat with…
PKU & Pregnancy At Salford’s PKU day in May 2019, Diane Green took attendees through PKU & Pregnancy, providing information on how pregnant women with PKU can adapt their diet to ensure their baby is born both happy and healthy. The effects of blood phenylalanine on the offspring of women with phenylketonuria (PKU) were recognised…
History of PKU The first detection of PKU can be traced back to Professor Følling in Norway in 1934. The parents of two children that were not developing as they should, took urine samples to Følling, their physician, and large amounts of phenylalanine were discovered. It then became Følling’s mission to test the urine of…