DNA oxidative damage and strand breaks in young healthy individuals: a gender difference and the role of life style factors

The aim of this study was to analyze background levels of DNA damage in young (19-31 years) non-smoking individuals and to correlate damage to gender and life style. DNA single strand breaks (SSB) and alkali labile sites (ALS) were measured in 99 subjects living in Stockholm, Sweden. Further, oxidative DNA damage was analyzed using the DNA repair glycosylase FPG as well as HPLC-ECD for specific analysis of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'deoxyguanosine (8-oxodG). We found that males had higher (P < 0.001) levels of SSB + ALS than females, but no difference was seen for oxidative lesions. There was no correlation between FPG sites and 8-oxodG. For females, there was a positive correlation between FPG levels and body mass index and a negative correlation between SSB + ALS and fruit intake. We conclude that the background level of oxidative DNA damage, analyzed with improved methods, is low and that gender, fruit intake and BMI can affect DNA damage.