Lee Swanson Research Update

Citrus Flavonoid Repairs DNA

April 2006

citrus flavonoid

Naringenin, a flavonoid found in grapefruit and oranges, helped repair damaged DNA in cancer cells, according to a study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

Researchers at the Center for Human Nutrition, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles initiated a study of the effects of phytochemicals beyond antioxidation on cancer prevention. As part of the study, they investigated whether naringenin, a citrus bioflavonoid, stimulates DNA repair following oxidative damage in human prostate cancer cells.

After 24 hours of exposure to 80 micromoles per liter of naringenin, the flavonoid stimulated DNA repair. The proposed function of naringenin is that it stimulates the so-called Base Excision Repair (BER) cellular mechanism that repairs DNA during the replication stage.

Researchers concluded that the cancer-preventive effects of citrus fruits demonstrated in epidemiological studies may be due in part to stimulation of DNA repair by naringenin, which by stimulating BER processes may prevent mutagenic changes in prostate cancer cells.

Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry 17(2):89-95, 2005

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