From The October 2001 Issue of Nutrition Science News

Scientists Find Model to Repair DNA

By Bill Sardi

Repairing double-strand breaks in DNA is essential to maintaining the human genome. Failure to repair DNA can result in loss of genetic information and cell death. Researchers at Clare Hall Laboratories in Britain have identified a factor that repairs double-strand DNA breaks as inositol hexaphosphate (IP6), also called phytic acid, a component of whole grains and seeds. IP6 preferentially chelates iron, copper, calcium, and heavy metals by the attraction of the mineral.

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. Hanakahi LA, et al. Binding of inositol phosphate to DNA-PK and simulation of double-strand break repair. Cell 2000;102:721-9.