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C3-IL: IMPACT OF AGENTS WITH POTENTIAL USE IN FUNCTIONAL FOODS
ON BIOMARKERS FOR INDUCTION OF AGE RELATED DISEASES
(ongoing FP7 Project FuncFood)

Gordana Joksić, Robert Nilsson

 

This project relates to a coordinated call between European Union (EU) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in India as is a joint project with participants from these two organizations.

The aim of this project is to investigate the protective action of agents with potential use as functional food constituents with respect to age related diseases, e.g. cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

As significant numbers of epidemiological studies have consistently demonstrated the protective effects of fruits and vegetables with respect to several age related diseases investigate the protective action of agents with potential use as functional food constituents are to be investigated in this project. Cancer and cardiovascular diseases associated with atherosclerosis and diabetes constitute the major causes of age related diseases - the focus for this proposal. In developed nations unsuitable diets as well as smoking have been identified as outstanding avoidable detrimental factors.  During the last decade there has been a dramatic increase in the incidence of atherosclerotic diseases as well as of diabetes also in the Indian population, a development that has been linked to changes in food habits.  However, in India insufficient means have been allocated to this newly emerging health problem. A number of epidemiological studies have consistently demonstrated the protective effects of fruits and vegetables with respect to age related diseases such as diabetes, atherosclerosis and several types of cancer. In Europe this association seems especially obvious with respect to the protective action of the traditional Mediterranean-style diet, where antioxidant constituents in red wine also appear to play a significant role. Thus, within EU the populations in Spain, France, Greece and Italy show the highest life expectancy at 65 years. Sweden belongs to the same cluster, probably mainly due to a very low prevalence of smokers.  The antioxidant function of lycopene may also explain the recent observation in a multi-center European study that adipose tissue levels of carotenoids were inversely associated with risk for myocardial infarction. High consumption of fish rich in long chain omega-3 fatty acids has, likewise, been found to protect against cardiovascular disease, and not unexpectedly, life expectancy in Iceland is considerably higher than in most other countries.

While beneficial effects have been firmly established, it has not been possible to identify exactly which components in food that are mainly responsible for the protective action with respect to age-related diseases, mainly because of the complex exposures involved, as well as the interaction with genetic  and other confounding factors. Except for the reduction of the levels of aflatoxin-induced DNA adducts by the common food colouring agent chlorophyllin, evidence of protective effects in humans of specific compounds present in the diet is scarce.   Amongst the plethora of agents for which health claims have been made, candidates have been chosen from the following categories characterized by different modes of action with respect to protection against carcinogenic effects: (i) antioxidants, (ii) carotenoids and (iii) substances that modulate the activity of enzymes (type I and II) responsible for metabolism of carcinogenic compounds,  (iv)  herbal products that have been found to protect against ionizing radiations, (v) impact on lipid  and glucose metabolism including  associated biomarkers in rodents and humans. Except for Gentianella lutea extracts, all of the listed compounds are commercially available. For the Gentianella extracts extraction and purification procedures have been developed by the Vinča Institute.

 

Dr. Gordana Joksić, biologist, PhD, research associate at the Vinča Institute, has a background in radiation biology and genetic toxicology. During recent years, the focus of her main line of research has been the selection of substances with radioprotective and antimutagenic properties with potential medical use. She has been the project leader of EU 6th and EU 7th Framework Programmes Dietary Exposures to Polycyclic Aromatic  Hydrocarbons  and DNA Damage (acronym DIEPHY) and current FP7 project  Impact of agents with potential use in functional foods on biomarkers for induction of age related diseases (acronym FUNCFOOD).