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From The October 2001 Issue of Nutrition Science News
Gene Therapy Is on the Horizon
by Bill Sardi
The human genome has been mapped, and the DNA sequences for Homo sapiens have been codified into the "book of life." What promise does this hold for the future?
The mitochondrial genome was first mapped more than 20 years ago. Mitochondria are small organs, also called organelles, that lie within cells and have their own DNA. A number of rare mitochondrial disorders have been discovered. Researchers say it is difficult to conduct controlled, clinical trials for such small patient populations, and in fact they concede that after two decades no mitochon-drial gene therapy has been performed. Gene therapy is a novel approach to treating diseases based on modifying a person's gene expression. Some individuals affected with mitochondrial disorders, however, have benefited from nutritional therapy with coenzyme Q10, thiamin (vitamin B1), and antioxidant supplements.1
Ruth Hubbard, Ph.D., professor emeritus of biology at Harvard University, says that although human genome mapping is heroic, and possibly as significant as putting a man on the moon, gene therapy has yet to cure a single disease.2
While the debate rages over whether nature (genes) or nurture (diet, environment, and lifestyle) is largely responsible for health and longevity, the nutrient/environment side is making history. Nutrient-deficiency diseases such as rickets (vitamin D) and scurvy (vitamin C) have been largely eradicated in developed countries. Death from tuberculosis, scarlet fever, measles, and whooping cough declined as advances in agriculture and transportation make a variety of nutritious foods available. It is questionable whether gene therapy will ever aid the poor and infirm as well as nutrition can. Says Hubbard, "Most people the world over die not because they have bad genes, but for lack of sufficient and nutritious food, clean water, sanitation, and other inexpensive medications."
Bruce N. Ames, Ph.D., of the University of California, Berkeley, says deficiencies of vitamins B6, B12, C, E, folic acid, and niacin, or minerals such as iron and zinc, mimic the DNA damage caused by radiation. Somewhere between 2 and 20 percent of the U.S. population has a low intake of these eight micronutrients. Folic acid deficiency, for example, may result in chromosome breaks in approximately 10 percent of the population, with higher rates among the poor and undernourished. Ames explains that this may be why the quarter of the population that eats the fewest fruits and vegetables experiences twice the cancer rate as the quarter of the population that eats the most plant foods. About eight in 10 Americans do not eat the recommended five portions of fresh fruits and vegetables daily. Ames says that efforts to reduce the incidence of disease and to prolong life via nutritional therapy may be more beneficial than efforts to reduce environmental radiation and toxins.3
Until gene therapy becomes a reality, individuals can positively affect their own genes by including more fruits and vegetables in their diet, and augment the diet with food supplements.
Bill Sardi is a health journalist writing from Diamond Bar, Calif. He is the author of The Iron Time Bomb (Bill Sardi, 1999).
References
1. Chinnery PF, Turnbull DM. Mitochondrial DNA mutations in the pathogenesis of human disease. Mol Med Today 2000;6:425-32.
2. Hubbard R, Wald E. Exploding the gene myth. Boston: Beacon Press; 1999.
3. Ames BN. Micronutrient deficiencies: a major cause of DNA damage. Ann NY Acad Sci 1999;889:87-106.
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