Hospital-supervised diet linked to less DNA damage in obesity
A marker of lasting chromosome damage halved from baseline over three weeks in adults eating about 600 calories daily under hospital supervision.
3 weeks, controlled
Limit: Groups differed in age, chronic disease burden, and hospital supervision, confounding the diet comparison
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
A nonrandomized clinical intervention study analyzed 53 adults—men and women with obesity and a body mass index of at least 35. The 26 hospital participants included 13 women and 13 men, with a median age of 58.5 years. The 27 home participants included 23 women and four men, with a median age of 45.5 years. For three weeks, hospital participants ate about 600 calories daily under continuous medical supervision; home participants ate 1,500.
The hospital diet was associated with fewer markers of lasting chromosome damage in cultured blood cells. Micronuclei, small structures containing chromosome fragments or whole chromosomes, halved from baseline. The home group showed no measurable change in lasting damage. Neither diet significantly changed repairable DNA damage. Median muscle mass fell 1.7 kilograms in hospital participants and 1 kilogram in home participants. Four people discontinued hospital treatment.
Why it matters
DNA stability is relevant to how cells change with age. The authors called for longer randomized trials to assess whether calorie restriction offers lasting reductions in health risks.
Caveats
Nonrandom assignment, differences in starting health and age, hospital versus home settings, and analysis of completers prevented a definitive comparison of the diets. These short-term blood-cell measurements do not establish lasting health benefits, and the findings do not cover children or people with a body mass index below 35.
From the paper
- Participants
The study involved 53 participants, representing both genders, with a BMI ≥ 35 kg/m² and with secondary, acquired polygenic Class III obesity primarily driven by long-term lifestyle factors, positive energy balance, and sedentary behaviours.
- Duration
… completion of at least three weeks of participation—including anthropometric measurements and venous blood sampling at both the start and end of the study—signed informed consent, completion of questionnaires on lifestyle habits and health status, and the FFQ …
- Analyzed for permanent DNA damage
Of the 29 participants in the control group who completed the survey, 27 (93%) met all the study criteria.
- Micronuclei frequency
The model for apoptotic cells showed no significant difference between diets in the basic model, but after adjustment for relevant covariates (Model 2), the VLCD showed a protective effect (mean ratio = exp(b) = 0.712).
- Body mass index
The VLCD group demonstrated a significantly greater reduction in both weight (9.4 kg vs. 3.1 kg) and BMI (3.4 kg/m² vs. 2.1 kg/m²) than the SRD group (median values).
Results, 3.4. Comparison of Two Groups—Anthropometric and Biochemical Comparison
- Permanent DNA damage
Conversely, the home-based SRD cohort did not exhibit a significant decrease in CBMN cytome indicators over this time window, with the median micronuclei frequency remaining statistically unchanged at 86.5‰ at baseline versus 8.6‰ post-intervention (p = 0.486).
Results, 3.5. Food Questionnaire, DII and DNA Damage Biomarkers
Quoted word for word from the full text on PubMed Central.
The paper
Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health; University of Zagreb
Nutrients, Jun 19, 2026, Open access
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