You can repair damaged DNA
Posted on 29. Nov, 2009 by Guy Edwards in Nutrition & Lifestyle
Guy’s comments – A research study to demonstrate how nutritional deficiencies can effect DNA in your cells. In the emerging field of nutrigenomics, whereby the nutritional status of an individual can effect DNA replication and essentially influence aging of DNA and create chronic degenerative diseases (accelerated aging) that can be avoided by proper nutrition, from healthy soils, or possible supplementation.
A research group led by Yang Song from Department of Nutrition & Exercise Sciences and Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University have shown for the first time that low zinc intake leads to DNA damage in peripheral blood cells of humans.
The group’s investigation, published in the July 2009 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that inadequate zinc intake causes DNA strand breaks and that improving dietary zinc intake improves DNA integrity. With marginal zinc deficiency estimated to affect a considerable portion of the population these findings may have important implications for cancer development.
Nine healthy men with adequate zinc intakes (an average intake above the RDA of 11 mg per day) completed three dietary periods; (1) a base line period were zinc intake was maintained at 11 mg per day for two weeks, (2) a period of zinc depletion during which zinc intake was reduced to 0.6 mg for one week then 4 mg per day for 5 weeks and (3) a period of zinc repletion were dietary zinc intake was restored to 11 mg per day for four weeks and an additional zinc supplement of 20 mg per day was taken for the first seven days.
It was found that “dietary zinc depletion was associated with increased DNA strand breaks in peripheral blood cells, changes that were ameliorated by zinc repletion. Plasma zinc concentrations were negatively correlated with DNA strand breaks during the zinc-depletion period.” Markers of oxidative stress including plasma total antioxidant capacity, and erythrocyte superoxide dismutase activity did not change significantly.
The research group also found that during the zinc depletion phase consumption of the marginally deficient zinc diet had no significant effect on the subject’s plasma and urinary zinc concentrations highlighting the lack of sensitivity in commonly used assessment of zinc status.
Comment:
These findings suggest DNA stability and repair is highly sensitive to marginal dietary zinc deficiency. If marginal zinc intakes are indeed more common than previously thought, zinc status may prove to be a common and modifiable factor that predisposes to chronic disease development. The group’s findings also question the sensitivity of conventional methods of assessing zinc status such as blood plasma, assessing DNA single-strand breaks may be a useful biomarker of zinc deficiency however further study is needed.
Click here for effective Zinc supplementation
Sources:
Song Y et al. Dietary zinc restriction and repletion affects DNA integrity in healthy men. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;90:321–8.
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