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“You are what you eat.” The old adage has for decades weighed on the minds of consumers who fret over responsible food choices. Yet what if it was literally true? What if material from our food actually made its way into the innermost control centers of our cells, taking charge of fundamental gene expression?
That is in fact what happens, according to a recent study of plant-animal microRNA transfer led by Chen-Yu Zhang of Nanjing University in China. MicroRNAs are short sequences of nucleotides—the building blocks of genetic material. Although microRNAs do not code for proteins, they prevent specific genes from giving rise to the proteins they encode. Blood samples from 21 volunteers were tested for the presence of microRNAs from crop plants, such as rice, wheat, potatoes and cabbage.
The results, published in the journal Cell Research, showed that the subjects’ bloodstream contained approximately 30 different microRNAs from commonly eaten plants. It appears that they can also alter cell function: a specific rice microRNA was shown to bind to and inhibit the activity of receptors controlling the removal of LDL—“bad” cholesterol—from the bloodstream. Like vitamins and minerals, microRNA may represent a previously unrecognized type of functional molecule obtained from food.
The revelation that plant microRNAs play a role in controlling human physiology highlights the fact that our bodies are highly integrated ecosystems. Zhang says the findings may also illuminate our understanding of co-evolution, a process in which genetic changes in one species trigger changes in another. For example, our ability to digest the lactose in milk after infancy arose after we domesticated cattle. Could the plants we cultivated have altered us as well? Zhang’s study is another reminder that nothing in nature exists in isolation.
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38 Comments
Add CommentVery interesting. I would like to see more of his research on the affect different foods has on our bodies.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIntegrated ecosystems? Vow,I guess the man of the mountain was right, we are One!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"...a specific rice microRNA was shown to bind to and inhibit the activity of receptors controlling the removal of LDL— “bad” cholesterol— from the bloodstream."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAt one time, I understood even obtusely written statements. This sentence is nothing more than a painful conglomeration of words.
Does the rice mRNA slow the removal of LDL, or by binding to and inhibiting the receptors controlling the removal of LDL, does it in fact allow more LDL to be removed?
MicroRNA binds (attaches) to and inhibits (prevents) the activity of receptors controlling the removal of LDL bad cholesterol from the bloodstream. Without further explanation, it seems rice microRNA prevents LDL from being removed from the bloodstream.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMs. Hodge, this is an interesting article and I would love to see a follow up.
Super-interesting. Hope we hear more. But I too would like some elaboration on the rice thing. Did the study show that rice is bad for you because it disables the cells' ability to get rid of the bad cholesterol?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes, very curious. If the statement does mean that eating rice inhibits the removal of bad LDL cholesterol, do populations whose diets include large amounts of rice suffer from high levels of bad LDL cholesterol, confirming this finding, or not?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt might 'boil down' to the simple fact that eating boiled, and therefore 'un-naturally' condensed & vitamin-deplete food is a human health hazard!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI read somewhere that a chronic rice eaters' pancreas can be up to three-times the normal size; again, as a sign of organ stress from cooked food I presume.
A propos: 'bad' cholesterol: nothing is either 'good' or 'bad', thinking makes it so;
it's typically linked with meat-eaters' (gut) system overload-from the body cholesterol of the consumed animal flesh
that our primate's body perceives as 'foreign'.(It's an evolutionary corollary fact it seems..)
The 'China Study' by Professor Colin T. Campbell deals in detail about the health risks connected with food derived from animal bodies; it shows clearly that non-meat&dairy-consuming Chinese populations have far lower cancer&cardiac risks than their 'Western Diet'counterparts.
Sticky white rice is probably the lesser of two evils, connected with our human civilization; raw plant food, such as sprouted grains, are vastly better though.
Eating colourful plant food in the form of raw fruits and vegetables is by far the best DNA repair kit for our bodies!
Visit the Colorific Manifesto- Colour Eating Without Heating, on Youthevity.com
The healthiest, longest-lived populations (Japan, Hong Kong, Iceland, Switzerland, Israel, Australia, Spain, Sweden, Macau, France) have very different diets, some of them like Switzerland are high in both meat and dairy. None of them traditionally have eaten much in the way of raw foods, though the Asian countries cook veggies more lightly than the equally long-lived Europeans.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe only thing they have in common is prosperity and good public health systems.
Rice is one of my favorite foods, it supported me whilst I attended University for years. I have always had normal Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) blood levels, every time my Doctor checks it once per year. Then again I mainly eat tuna, then chicken and three to four times a week I eat red meat; either lean beef or lamb. Sometimes for a snack I eat a hand full of beef jerky, although usually I eat dry roasted mixed nuts. I always eat a tomato and ice berg lettuce salad, sometimes with lebanese cucumber or avocado, at least once a day. I have eaten rice for decades, and I have no significant LDL issues. The mechanism of rice microRNA interaction with my LDL removal control receptors may be complicated by the presence of other vegetables' microRNA?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thismiRNA work by binding to mRNA transcripts (the instructions to make protein) in the cell. By binding to these, the cell can no longer make proteins out of the mRNA. Therefore, miRNA is an inhibitory agent.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSince the rice miRNA target LDL receptors (LDLR) , then this means that the rice miRNA can bind the LDLR mRNA and prevent LDLR from being produced in the cell. Hence, LDLR will not be expressed. Without LDLR, LDL will not be recognized by cells and hence will stay in the bloodstream.
I hope this explanation helps!
Fascinating stuff! The cynic in me says I wonder what you would find if you tested other cereals? wheat maize barley etc because this research has got us thinking "must avoid rice - it stops your body from getting rid of bad cholesterol". The wheat and maize industries must be ecstatic! Is this effect just rice or common to many cereals? How long before someone's PR machine gets this into popular culture?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow I would like to see how eating genetically modified plants are modifying humans - most corn and soybeans are GMO, Monsanto et al are "testing" wheat, sugar beets, and other commonly consumed staples; non of these have been proven to be safe for human consumption and yet government approvals are routine despite the majority of people wanting to eat "real food". In countries where GMOs must be labelled, most consumers avoid them. Here in the US no labeling is required so most people don't know that the cereal they bought for their children may be contaminated nor are they aware that the "cheap" milk was produced by cows given genetically modified bovine growth hormones (which make the cows sick and ensure that there's pus in that milk - yum).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs there a correlation between increasing consumption of genetically modified, highly processed, and refined foods and the astronomical rise in diabetes, heart disease, cancer, gut/digestive diseases, autism, and of course obesity?
Since I no longer eat processed foods (even organic) and I am at a normal weight and excellent health (and don't look like other 54 year old women) I suspect so.
I came up with this theory a few months ago. I decided that some of our phenotypes can be influenced by gut flora.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRereading this little news article, I see the study was conducted on samples from 21 volunteers, I presume students at Nanjing University in China like the researchers.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhile these results do have implications for human evolution and our codevelopment with our food sources and environment. However, I'm always amazed at the far reaching conclusions drawn from such small samples of highly specific social groups.
- Are (the diets of) the few selected students at Nanjing representative of the entire Chinese population?
- Are these results only found in populations who consume large amounts of rice in their diets? Does an American eating a small portion of rice in a single meal at risk of increasing his bad LDL cholesterol?
I suspect broad generalizations and extrapolations of these research results would be premature, at best, and that focusing on the effects of eating rice in a rice eating population might no yield valid conclusions. This does appear to be a very interesting area for additional research!
The bottom line is that most Asians have diets very high in rice, which is their main staple, and yet they have less heart disease on average than other populations.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI find it that the final outcome maybe will let us down a little. Even if different foods each have distinctive impact on us, the influences are supposed to be insignificant.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs we have known which food is real good to our health,the major thing we should execute is to exercise and form one healthy diet for us each.
I find it that the final outcome maybe will let us down a little. Even if different foods each have distinctive impact on us, the influences are supposed to be insignificant.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs we have known which food is real good to our health,the major thing we should execute is to exercise and form one healthy diet for us each.
True, we do not eat as you do from my world. When the proposal that we would live by consuming food in the form of pills was not to mention that it would be because real food would not exist, but to preserve the lives of living organisms. This world was headed for a very serious canabalism problem, which we prevented.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHis name is Rumpelstilkskin. He split himself in two.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWho cares whether this research changes the "foundation concept of human life", or not.....I am 27, grasp my own mortality condition, and just need to know if I should quit eating rice. Show a little balance, young smart people!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would like for him to do a study on drugs (anti-psychotic meds) & its ability to also alter the cell's behavior !
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis suggest to me that we might also look for the mRNA of sugar plants.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot suggesting that THEY could be contributing to our diabetes epidemic,,,but maybe,,,(sneaky danged plants,,,)
I beg to differ: the countries with highest meat & dairy consumption, e.g. Australia, Israel, Switzerland, have the highest breast & prostate cancer rates, not to mention osteoporosis, arthritis, atheroslerosis.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthey are typically diseases of prosperity which are practically chronic and incurable, and up till now, none of our public health ( or is it rather un-health?) systems has been able to cope.
Prevention in the form of species-specific nutrition is the only solution for us thinking primates; we evolved on plants for most of our past few million years, and are still dependent on them in their RAW state for their vitamin C content, as we lost the gene coding for forming it from glucose! Plants are living multicellular organisms- unless you cook them!- that have survived for hundreds of millions of years, due to their own 'health system', thanks to anti-oxidants and protein, hormones, and enzymatic proteins like chlorophyll, flavonoids, phenols, etc..The strongest & longest-living animals are all vegetarians!
The China Study, done by American Professor Emeritus Colin Campbell in conjunction with the University of Cambridge, has all the answers to your queries; it is the greatest ever epidemiological study done, with almost a billion people, and over three decades.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is a very interesting finding that will hopefully get alot of future research. Gut bacteria affecting us more than was previously assumed didn't suprise me, that always seemed a distinct possibility. But it made sense that our digestive system would break down food into components that we 100% consumed. Now it seems that some small percentage are potentially active. Definitely needs further research and verification.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"What we eat decide how we are"-is one of the basic ways of Life in Hinduism;(peoples division of four)'varnas' formulate the food selection for each 'varna'. Of all the other foods the following are worth mentioning-
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this1.Milk,(cow)curd -for Brahmins who are peaceful people
2.Meat - for Shaktrias'(Kings) who are Warrior
people
and so on.
RNA found in plant cells and DNA found in animal cells.But some times there are mutans causing due to DNA and RNA interractions. I dont kown if Cancer causing by food is a effcet of this interactions. But is always not the same as specially in human cells the amout and varity of protien is different.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisin the shaping we share upon eachother in nature, i can see the origins or perfection.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRight on! "They" seem to be trying to contaminate everything with GMOs...even to the extent of planting them in wildlife refuges. So where's the research showing the effects of GMO contamination on human gene expression? Once you are contaminated with GMOs...I think Monsanto legally owns you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe miRNA binds to the gene that functions in HOMEOSTASIS, the gene that regulates LDL. the miRNA inhibits which controls the mechanism for REMOVAL OF LDL, having nothing to do with PRODUCTION. As it controls the removal of LDL, it inhibits the gene, the gene doesn't function and LDL is not regulated. If the gene actually inhibited other genes that operate reduction of LDL then theinhibiting miRNA would reduce LDL, but this is not refered to in the passage.
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthat;s a silly explanation and i don't understand it myself.
The more that I think about this report describing how a rice µRNA can affect mRNA levels for a LDL receptor adapter protein 1 (LDLRAP1), the more skeptical I am about the conclusions of the study. The use of even anti-sense RNA to control mRNA translation in human and animals has been challenging and only in recent years have successful early stage clinical trials been achieved (for example, for treatment of prostate cancer). The ability of an plant oligonucleotide to survive acids, bases and nucleases in the stomach and gut, be absorbed into the circulation, travel to the liver and penetrate into hepaocytes is remarkable alone. However, when one contemplates the likely species differences in the primary nucleotide sequences of the rice and human µRNA's that target the mRNA for the LDL receptor adapter protein, this is even more incredible. If in fact the data from this Chinese study is correct, it is likely to be a rather isolated case of accidental post-transcription regulation. Moreover, it would certainly not be anything like a vitamin or mineral, which is required from the environment to maintain the health of human cells.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI doubt that anyone cares about your diet- please don't bore us.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThanks - can you provide a link?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswow - speaking as a non scientist - I have a feel this is a very important high impact item
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes, by Google!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisT. Colin Campbell, PhD The China Study
tcolincampbell wiki has the Professor's reply to what seems to be the only 'critical' review, from a 23-year-old ! ( How much more understated can it get when dealing with a groundbreaking study like this I wonder.)
Amazon has it on sale I presume.
Thanks. After wading through manuscripts requiring subscriptions or book purchases, etc., I ran across a very interesting free PDF containing two research reports and formal rebuttals to them - please see: Loren Cordain and T. Colin Campbell, (2008), "The Protein Debate", http://www.cathletics.com/articles/downloads/proteinDebate.pdf
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI couldn't find similar free access to the original China study & don't have the resources to gather and review all the various commercial derivatives...
In some previous work I've done with RNA, I found whole blood extremely hostile to RNA, because of its rich ribonuclease. How is this micro RNA immune and hence effective in altering our genetic function.?
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