Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Feb 16:10:1178638816684666.
doi: 10.1177/1178638816684666. eCollection 2017.

Role of Macronutrients and Micronutrients in DNA Damage: Results From a Food Frequency Questionnaire

Carina Ladeira  1   2   3 , Elisabete Carolino  1 , Manuel C Gomes  4 , Miguel Brito  2
Affiliations

Role of Macronutrients and Micronutrients in DNA Damage: Results From a Food Frequency Questionnaire

Carina Ladeira et al. Nutr Metab Insights. .

Abstract

The links between diet and genomic instability have been under investigation for several decades, and evidence suggests a significant causal or preventive role for various dietary factors. This study investigates the influence of macronutrients (calories, protein, and glucides) and micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, as assessed by a food frequency questionnaire, on genotoxicity biomarkers measured by cytokinesis-blocked micronucleus assay and comet assay. The results found significant positive and negative correlations. Micronucleus frequency tends to increase with higher intake of caffeine, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and protein (P < .05, Spearman correlation). Calorie and omega-6 intakes are negatively correlated with DNA damage measured by the comet assay. These results are somewhat controversial because some of the correlations found are contrary to dominant views in the literature; however, we suggest that unraveling the association between diet and genetic instability requires a much better understanding of the modulating role of macronutrients and micronutrients.

Keywords: CBMN assay; comet assay; food frequency questionnaire; genetic instability; macronutrients; micronutrients.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

DECLARATION OF CONFLICTING INTERESTS: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. Strickland P, Groopman J. Biomarkers for assessing environmental exposure to carcinogens in the diet. Am J Clin Nutr. 1995;61:710S–720S. - PubMed
    1. Davis C, Milner J. Biomarkers for diet and cancer prevention research: potentials and challenges. Acta Pharmacol Sin. 2007;28:1262–1273. - PubMed
    1. Sutandyo N. Nutritional carcinogenesis. Acta Med Indones. 2010;42:36–42. - PubMed
    1. Go V, Butrum R, Wong D. Diet, nutrition, and cancer prevention: the postgenomic era. J Nutr. 2003;133:3830S–3836S. - PubMed
    1. Davis C, Milner J. Frontiers in nutrigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics and cancer prevention. Mutat Res. 2004;551:51–64. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources