WASHINGTON, Feb 23: Including dried plums in the diet may prevent bone damage from radiation exposures in space as well as on Earth, a new study has claimed.
The study showed that consuming dried plums can protect from ionising radiation that increases oxidative damage in skeletal tissues and results in an imbalance in bone remodelling.
“Bone loss caused by ionising radiation is a potential health concern for those in occupations or in situations that expose them to radiation,” said Nancy Turner, from Texas A&M AgriLife Research.
“This is relevant to not only astronauts in space, but also cancer patients, those undergoing radiotherapy, radiation workers and victims of nuclear accidents,” said Turner.
“The changes in remodelling activity caused by exposure to radiation can lead to impaired skeletal integrity and fragility both in animals and human radiotherapy patients,” she said.
The team investigated interventions they hypothesised might prevent bone damage and oxidative stress-related factors leading to cancellous bone loss, also known as “spongy bone,” from exposure to both low linear energy transfer and high linear energy transfer radiation.
“We evaluated different interventions with antioxidant or anti-inflammatory properties, including an antioxidant cocktail, dihydrolipoic acid, ibuprofen and dried plum, to determine their ability to prevent bone loss and to blunt the expression of genes in marrow cells that lead to the breakdown of bone after irradiation with either gamma rays or simulated space radiation,” said Turner.
The researchers tested mice using the different interventions and exposing them to ionising radiation.
“Bone loss caused by ionising radiation occurs quite rapidly in rodents,” Turner said.
The interventions were evaluated first by using early gene expression markers and then were tested for their ability to prevent radiation-induced bone loss.
Of the interventions tested, dried plum was most effective in reducing the expression of genes related to the breakdown of bone and preventing the spongy bone effect caused by irradiation with either photons or heavy ions.
“Dried plums contain biologically active components that may provide effective interventions for loss of structural integrity caused by radiotherapy or unavoidable exposure to space radiation incurred over long-duration spaceflight,” Turner said.
“From this study, we can conclude that inclusion of dried plums in the diet may prevent the skeletal effects of radiation exposures either in space or here on Earth,” Turner added.
Turner noted purified dried plums contain various bioactive compounds, including polyphenols that are known for their high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
The research was published in the journal Scientific Reports. (PTI)
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