DNA Repair and Aging - page 2

Paul Willis: So time to take the good Doctor's challenge. And the treatment is a pretty simple one.

According to Michael, DNA has its own set of rebuilding tools built into its structure but they can't do their job effectively unless there is plenty of folate and B12 around.

Alarmingly, around 9 out of 10 Australians do not have enough folate in their diets to provide for the basic cell functions of DNA replication and repair.

By far the best source of dietary folate are chicken livers, fried of course, but I have a cholesterol problem and so these guys are off the menu. If I want to go to vegetables, broccoli and brussel sprouts are great, but I'd still need to eat half a kilo a day to get the folate I need, and I think my wife and friends might complain about the side effects. So I've decided to take pills instead.

I'll need about 500 micrograms folate or folic acid and 50 micrograms of vitamin B12 daily to help with the DNA rebuilding work. And, for three months I stuck to the plan. No matter where I went, I faithfully took my folate and B12 every day. After three months, I'm itching to know if my DNA has improved!

Paul Willis: Have I done anything?

Dr. Fenech: Yes well it looks like the supplements you were taking have had an effect on the rates of DNA damage in your cells.

Paul Willis: What sort of impact?

Dr. Fenech: Well we observed about a 45% reduction.

Paul Willis: 45%?

Dr. Fenech: Yes.

Paul Willis: That sounds very good.

Dr. Fenech: It's pretty good. The largest reduction was in this type of damage which is actually pretty important because it's thought to create the genomic instability that leads to the genetic changes that initiate cancer.

Paul Willis: This is great news for me - particularly seeing as there are some rather nasty cancers lurking in the family history. But, once again, the news sounds almost too good to be true. So it's back to Professor Armstrong to put my results into context. He's already found folate can have an amazing effect in children.

Professor Bruce Armstrong: If we can see a 60% reduction in risk of a childhood cancer possibly as a result of folate in pregnancy. Now your 45% reduction in DNA damage doesn't sound all that implausible.

Paul Willis: Back in Adelaide Michael has big plans for his research findings. He's proposing the establishment of Genome Health Clinics where people can fine-tune their vitamin consumption to suit their own individual DNA. And such a clinic would not have to be buried away inside a huge hospital...

Dr. Fenech: You could go to the clinic, give your blood sample and after three months to find out whether the change you have made for your diet has actually caused you any benefit or might have caused you harm. It could possibly be a shop front in Rundle Mall, definitely.

Paul Willis: So in the not too distant future, busy people will be able to participate in this break through in preventative medicine with a simple blood test in a shop-front clinic. And if my own experience is anything to go by, it will be a simple and painless process that could help prevent some serious illnesses down the track.

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