Can dietary intake of phase 2 protein inducers affect the rising epidemic of diseases such as type 2 diabetes?
Juurlink, B.H.J.
Medgenmed Medscape General Medicine 5(4): 25
2003
ISSN/ISBN: 1531-0132 PMID: 14745372 Document Number: 557796
I propose that those populations with a long history of agriculture, particularly where survival was dependent upon relatively few food types, were selected for resistance to diseases such as type 2 diabetes. The basis for this resistance is hypothesized to be a higher basal level of ability to scavenge strong oxidants than found in populations whose recent ancestors depended to a great extent on gathering for their subsistence. Specifically, I hypothesize that selective pressures on populations whose ancestors ate a very restricted diet resulted in the development of populations with high basal levels of phase 2 protein gene expression; a consequence of which is that their tissues have a greater ability to cope with oxidative stress. In contrast, populations with a recent ancestry of hunting and gathering are more dependent upon the consumption of dietary phase 2 protein inducers for adequate phase 2 gene expression necessary for maintaining their tissues' abilities to cope with oxidative stress. This hypothesis can be readily tested by examining basal and induced phase 2 protein gene expression in umbilical cord fibroblasts, obtained from infants of different genetic backgrounds, grown in cell culture.