Compound in saliva can protect against the toxins in tea, coffee and liquid smoke flavor -
A compound in saliva, and common protein in the blood and muscles, can protect human cells potent toxins in tea, coffee and liquid smoke flavor, according to results of a new study conducted by researchers from Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center Johns.
The results, reported online May 19 in Food and Chemical Toxicology , suggest that people naturally engage multiple defenses against plant chemicals called polyphenols or PLP pyrogallol as found in teas, coffees and liquid smoke flavor. The presence of these defenses may help explain why PLP are not paralyze the cells and cause diseases such as might be expected of them toxic punch and widespread use, researchers say.
Last year, Johns Hopkins investigator Scott Kern, MD, and colleagues have shown that PLP found in foods everyday and flavorings can cause major damage by breaking DNA strands, the support of all the genetic information. The impact of toxins was so strong - in some cases, producing 20 times chemotherapy drugs damage offered to cancer patients - the researchers immediately thought about why there was not more damage, and seek means that the cells could retaliate
"If these chemicals are so common - they are in flavorings, tea, coffee - and they damage DNA to such a degree." Kern said. "We thought it must of defense mechanisms that protect us on a daily basis from plants we choose to eat"
Kern and his colleagues discovered that an enzyme in the saliva called alpha amylase, blood albumin, and muscle protein myoglobin all protected DNA breakage of cells by tea, coffee and single PLP. the researchers identified the amount of DNA damage in cells by looking for high activity levels of a gene called p53. the damage using gene to repair DNA.
"It was easy enough to discover some of these protective substances against the cancer therapeutic drugs tested, suggesting that there may be many more layers of defenses against toxins, "said Kern, the Kovler professor of oncology and pathology at the medical school at Johns University Hopkins.
Kern stressed that the enzyme in saliva and proteins do not protect against chemotherapeutic drugs, which can also damage DNA, a fact that suggests that defenses against PLP may have evolved over time, in response to natural plant compounds which were part of the human diet for a long time.
Surprisingly, he said, the cells do not seem to need these protective proteins after a period of exposure to toxins. "After about two weeks, we have found it difficult to obtain the cells damaged by the same chemicals, even if they were damaged by the weeks of chemicals," Kern said. "They seem to have some innate ability to respond to the damage or the smell and somehow protect against it, even in the absence of albumin, muscle proteins or components of saliva."
"It makes us wonder, do people who eat the same day diet containing PLP following day develop a natural cell protection to toxins," Kern asked, "so, as stated above, which does not kill us makes us stronger? "
researchers plan to further explore how albumin, myoglobin and salivary alpha-amylase protect against PLP and learn about the other possible innate defenses against chemicals. Kern also plans to study how these natural defenses could be circumvented in some people, causing cancer or other diseases.
Kern said the findings also invite speculation as to whether a cup of coffee in the morning may be less harmful to the body if it is enjoyed with the myoglobin protection in some bacon. Or eat smoked meats may be less toxic if they are tasty enough to make one salivate dinner. But Kern warns that these ideas are just that -. Speculation
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