Part 5 – Optimising healthy ageing
Part 5 on genes and how your diet and lifestyle can interact with your own personal DNA.
In this post, our friend Dawn explains some of the ways your diet and lifestyle can work with, or against, your natural genetic predispositions to influence ageing.
This is probably the most technical of the series so far, but it’s important stuff to know. One more post to come in a couple of days, to wrap the series up – keep an eye out for that later this week!
So how do we help our genes continue to work well as we age? How can we prevent DNA damage? Let’s take a look at three diet and lifestyle factors you can optimise to support healthy genetic ageing – micronutrients, inflammation and stress.
Micronutrients and DNA Health
Micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals play key roles in the making and repairing of DNA. Too much, or not enough, micronutrients can cause nicks and breaks in the DNA bonds. If the cell doesn’t have enough key micronutrients, then it can’t make the right proteins to repair itself. This can lead to mutations. There is a developing body of research which links DNA damage to infertility, cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodevelopmental disease, cognitive decline and risk of early death.
Key micronutrients for making, repairing, and keeping DNA working well are:
- Polyphenols (natural beneficial chemicals in plants)
- The antioxidant vitamins A & C
- B2, B3, B6…
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Mother Nature's Diet 