The elements that originally existed in rice and cabbage actually "crossed the border" into the human body and directly manipulated the genes of the "host"!
When you take a bite of rice, some micrornas contained in rice grains can "run" into your blood, thus affecting your body. According to this statement, has the "eaten" food been quietly changing our bodies behind the scenes? To verify this, let's look at an experiment first.
What is contained in rice and broccoli is actually in human blood!
This experiment was completed by Professor Zhang Chenyu from School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University.
He found a plant microRNA numbered "168a" in rice. In fact, it is very rich in rice, which is basically contained in all rice varieties eaten by China people. Moreover, experiments have proved that even after cooked rice, the plant microRNA with the number "168a" is "alive" and will not die after cooked.
Where does "plant RNA" come from? Where does the "plant RNA" in the human body come from? It comes from cooked rice!
Then, enter the animal experiment stage. Take rice as an example. Is it the source of these plant RNA in human body? The researchers detected these two kinds of micrornas with different concentrations in blood, lung, small intestine and liver of mice. When mice were fed brown rice (it was confirmed that cooked rice also contained 168a), its concentration increased significantly.
Zhang Chen Yu said that he was surprised to find this phenomenon. Previously, it was generally believed in the scientific community that microRNAs that regulate genes in food are unlikely to be "eaten" into the human body.
Different from the "heavenly book" DNA of genes, RNA is more like a worker, who can actively "translate" the contents of DNA and exercise various physiological functions. In the past, scientists always thought that all kinds of RNA were "self-produced and sold" by living organisms, but this time they found that ——microRNA, a "villain" in the RNA family, can work "cross-border", produce in plants, and make waves after being eaten by animals.
Zhang Chenyu said that MicroRNA is very special. "In a sense, we eat not only food, but also information."
What happens when these things enter the human body? Make people more susceptible to diabetes.
What does it mean for microRNA to enter the human body from plants? Zhang Chenyu told reporters that taking "168a" as an example, the experiment found that it can bind to the messenger RNA of a gene in the liver, inhibit the protein expression of the gene, and then slow down the clearance of low-density lipoprotein from plasma. "Simply put, this will make people more likely to get metabolic diseases such as hyperlipidemia and diabetes." He said that previous studies have shown that China people are more likely to suffer from metabolic syndrome such as diabetes than westerners, which may be related to our rice-based diet.
Ask quickly, what is controlling us in the meal we are eating now?
Zhang Chen Yu said that at present, it is far from controlling human beings, because there are always many active substances in rice. MicroRNA, as a newly discovered new active substance, has a wide variety and exists in rice. Some of these varieties are harmful to people and some are beneficial to people, all of which need to be discovered.
If someone has ulterior motives, adding something to Miriya can control human beings?
In case people with ulterior motives add some ingredients to rice and vegetables in the future, can they enter the human body to "control" human beings? Facing the reporter's question, Zhang Chenyu shook his head. The reporter then learned from other channels that it is difficult to meet the first condition of entering the human body: "alive" after high-temperature cooking and "alive" from plants to enter the human body.
It makes sense that one side nourishes the other and supplements whatever it eats.
This discovery seems to find a theoretical basis for the old saying "what you eat supplements what you eat" and "one side of the soil and water supports one side of the people".
For example, in addition to eating "food", we are also ingesting "information": these information are the sequence characteristics of microRNAs, because once microRNAs from different foods are absorbed by the human body, different types of genes will have different effects on the human body. From this point of view, China's old saying, "You can make up what you eat", may be scientifically explained. There has been a controversy about "what to eat and what to make up" before.
A word from his father made him go back to China to do research.
Zhang Chenyu, an assistant professor at Harvard University, realized the importance of MicroRNA at the early stage of its discovery, and decided to study it deeply in the United States. But the experience of being scolded for visiting relatives in his hometown made him change his mind.
Zhang Chenyu's father is a professor at Harbin Institute of Technology and an academician of the Academy of Engineering. Once, Zhang Chenyu went back to his hometown to visit relatives. His father's students came to visit the old gentleman. They were very excited to talk about making a technology. At this time, Zhang Chenyu chimed in that this technology has lagged behind the United States for five to seven years. However, the old man flew into a rage after hearing this: "If we don't do it, there won't even be this thing! Although foreign technology is advanced, it is not ours! " This conversation touched Zhang Chenyu. In 2004, he left Harvard and resolutely returned to China, where he was employed by distinguished professor, a Changjiang scholar at the School of Life Sciences of Nanjing University.
To Professor Zhang Chenyu's delight, at the end of 2006, Professor Zeng Ke, the main member of their research team, was also inspired by him and gave up his position as research assistant professor at Emory Medical College in the United States. He returned to China to join the School of Life Sciences of Nanjing University and was employed by distinguished professor, a Changjiang scholar.
This assumption is so strange that the students can't believe it at all.
In the eyes of many people, it is almost impossible for the plant genes studied in this study to affect animals and even humans across national borders!
Talking about the difficulties encountered, Professor Zhang said with a smile that the most important thing is that at the beginning, I didn't know how to design a suitable experiment. And after a year or so, because the hypothesis is too "weird", students can hardly believe it.
In interviews, Professor Zhang Chenyu always talks about teams. He even said, "If I hadn't reported on our team, I wouldn't have been interviewed." In this research team, there are 6 professors, 1 1 associate professors, and a large number of young lecturers and postdocs ... Professor Zhang said that today's achievements are the result of joint efforts. (Excerpted from Yangzi Evening News)