What Fruits and Vegetables Stimulate DNA Recovery?
In light of the strikingly consistent observations from many population studies, there is no doubt that regular consumption of Foods high in fruits and vegetables helps to reduce the risk of developing degenerative diseases, including many cancers. Unhappy with just telling people to eat enough fruits and vegetables, scientists want to know the mechanism.
Fruits and vegetables are not just vehicles for antioxidants; they contain innumerable phytonutrients, that can stimulate our detoxifying enzymes, alter the expression of our genes and even restore DNA. Until fairly recently, it was generally accepted, that functions as important as DNA repair, are unlikely to be easily influenced by nutrition, but if you compare identical twins with binary ones, only about 1/2 to 3/4 of the DNA repair function is genetically determined; the rest can be controlled.
It is considered average there are 800 cases of DNA damage in our body every hour. That’s 19,000 hits of our DNA every day. And that damage to DNA can cause mutations, that can lead to cancer – if not corrected.
Fortunately, the regulation of DNA repair can be added to the list of biological processes, that are influenced by what we eat – and in particular, it may represent part of the explanation for the effects of cancer prevention for many plant foods. Are there any specific plants? Nine fruits and vegetables were examined to see which ones are better at stimulating DNA repair: lemons, apples, strawberries, oranges, choy, which is a skinny bok choy, broccoli, celery, lettuce and apples.
Who are the leaders? Will you know? Lemons, apples, strawberries, broccoli, celery and apples. Each one provides DNA protection in very small doses. Here’s what lemons can do, for example. They reduce DNA damage by about a third. Is Vitamin C the Cause? No, removing vitamin C from lemon extract does not remove the protective effect. However, if you first cook the lemon within 30 minutes, the effect is lost.
