Saturday Nov 23, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- A study published recently in BioMed Research International suggests that high doses of gallic acid can reduce DNA damage induced by gamma-radiation.   This means that gallic acid may be used protect against radiation induced damage when a nuclear war or nuclear incident occurs or individuals are exposed to x-ray.

For the study, rodents were fed 100 mg of gallic acid in water per kilogram of body weight and one hour later exposed to high doses of gamma-radiation (0 to 8Gy).  Then relevant analyses were conducted to see if and how gallic acid supplementation affects the damage induced by radiaiton.

The researchers found  gallic acid supplementation reduced DNA damage, increased DNA repair and survival rate.   At high doses with days, irradiated rodents that did not receive gallic acid died out while those irradiated rodents that did receive gallic acid supplements have a 20% survival rate.

 Gallic acid is a polyhydroxyphenol, which is a strong antioxidant found in various natural foods such as green tea, grapes, banana, strawberries and many other fruits.  Gallic acid is not toxic at a pharmacological dose while 5000mg per kg of body weight results in 50% death rate (LD50).

"Gallic acid has been known to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, free radical scavenging and radioprotective activity," the researchers report.

Gallic acid is available as a dietary supplement on the Internet or local health stores.

One Japanese study has early shown that taking high doses of vitamin C can also protect against radiation induced DNA damage.   The study found that those who took a high dose of vitamin C and then got exposed to high doses of radiation can help preserve DNA integrity or protect against DNA damage induced by radiation.   Those who took vitamin C did not have biomarkers generated after irradiation. (David Liu, PHD)