Detection of Food-Derived Damaged Nucleosides with Possible Adverse Effects on Human Health Using a Global Adductomics Approach

A range of damaged nucleosides, also found in digested dietary DNA, appear to be taken up by cells and incorporated into the cells' own DNA. Most incorporated damaged nucleosides will be repaired by cellular DNA repair systems. However, a small fraction of these will escape repair and thus ultimately create mutations. Over the long human lifespan this could be a mechanism that contributes to disease, cancer, and aging. This study analyzed damaged nucleosides derived from dietary DNA in a commercially successful fungus-based novel food, Quorn, and in two fungus-based food items with a history of safe use, button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) and dried powdered brewers yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). By using liquid chromatography combined with tandem mass spectrometry more than 90 putative DNA adducts were measured, showing that foods do contain a range of different DNA damages.