Biting the Dust: Junk food linked to accelerated aging.
Eating too much junk food may contribute to cancer, dementia, stroke and other diseases through lack of vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients in the diet, according to a new theory.
Professor Bruce Ames, of the Children’s Hospital of Oakland Research Institute in California, believes that many common disorders associated with aging can be traced in part to poor diet earlier in life.
Research that he presented to the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Boston yesterday suggested that taking regular multivitamin supplements could protect against some bad effects of micronutrient deficiencies.
This idea is contradicted by other studies that have shown little benefit to health in taking vitamin and mineral supplements, suggesting that they are no substitutes for a balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
Ames emphasized that his idea was theoretical, and he accepted that much more work into the effects of supplements was needed to provide sound medical advice.
He said shortages of 15 micronutrients, including magnesium and vitamin D, had been associated with greater levels of DNA damage to cells and a raised risk of cancers.
Fifty-six percent of Americans obtained less than the recommended daily amount of magnesium from their diets, 12 percent consumed insufficient zinc, and most African-Americans in vitamin D, which is mainly synthesized by exposure to sunlight and is often lacking in people with dark skin who are living at their higher latitudes.
“Most of the world’s population, particularly the poor, has inadequate intake of one or more micronutrients that a varied and balanced diet should provide,” he said.
“Social concern is low because no overt pathology has been associated with these levels of deficiency.”
Whereas serious vitamin or mineral deficiencies has symptoms, such as scurvy for vitamin C and rickets for vitamin D, mild shortages generally had none.
Ames said it was possible that the body compensated for such shortages by rebalancing metabolism, so that individuals stayed alive for the short term at the cost of their long-term health.
“The consequences of this homoeostatic response are, for example, DNA damage [future cancer], adaptive immune dysfunction [future disease], and mitochondrial decay [future cognitive dysfunction and accelerated aging],” he said.
“Much evidence supports this idea that micronutrient shortages accelerate aging.”
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