dieseltaylor Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 This is actually a very very interesting piece of new research which reveals part of plant DNA actually gets from the digestive tract to inside your body. CONSIDER the Brussels sprout: small, unassuming and ostensibly good for you. This is no mere side dish. A landmark study suggests that this dinky member of the cabbage family - along with rice, broccoli and possibly all the plants you eat - changes the behaviour of your genes in ways that are new to science. In what is the strongest evidence yet that the genetic material in food survives digestion and circulates through the body, fragments of plant RNA have been found swimming in the bloodstreams of people and cows. What's more the study by Chen-Yu Zhang of Nanjing University in China and his colleagues shows that some of these plant RNAs muffle gene expression and raise cholesterol levels in mice. New Scientist Eating your greens alters your genes 29 September 2011 by Ferris JabrMagazine issue 2832. Subscribe and save There are have been a huge number of studies explaining that various vegetables reduce or increase symptoms/life spans/illness etc etc but this is now a mechanism that explains how this may be working. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Not really too surprising. ISTR several years ago it was announced that archaic bacteria DNA was discovered in the human genotype. At the time, it was not known what if any function it was serving there. I don't know if anything further on that has turned up in the meantime. What might be really interesting to know is how the genes get from the food into our chromosomes. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 More importantly, what implication does this have with GM foods? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magpie_Oz Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Good point Aff and further to that I see that a company has just released a pill that contains plant extracts that act on genes to encourage the production of chemicals in the body that fight wrinkles. Regulatory bodies and the company are currently beating each other about the head trying to determine whether this is a drug or a food supplement. My wife is currently beating about the head anyone who gets between her and a reliable source of the pills. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseltaylor Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 The New Scientist editorial suggested that this would form a rich seam where GM food could be engineered for profit... sorry they dsaid the benefit of mankind or something! : ) I have a major problem with the concept that we need people to live longer by "better" food and genetic engineering. They have also found out the early stages of preventing aging by replacing the bits that replicate the cells which eventually decline and start producing more slowly and with inferior cells. Science can be wonderful but apparently no one wishes to consider the problems of the wealthy [the West?] and connected having longer/better lives in a World that will have problems feeding the population. It seems strange but I really believe that life span may have to be limited otherwise in five decades time we will have a revolution of the drones! against the gerontocracy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerontocracy 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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