 New data demonstrating a DNA protective agent, which was present at least some fruits and vegetables, found that it was heat-sensitive and determined it was not vitamin C, confirmed in a study that tried vitamin C directly, and found no effect on DNA protection and repair of DNA strand breaks. The crotinoid beta-cryptozanthin, found primarily in citrus, seems at least one candidate. If you expose cells to a mutagenic chemical, you can cause physical breaks in the strands of DNA, but in less than an hour our DNA repair enzymes can weld most of our DNA back together. But if you add some of that citrus phytonutrient, you can effectively double the speed at which DNA is repaired. But this is all just cells in a Petri dish. What about in a person? If you have people drink a glass of orange juice and draw their blood two hours later, the DNA damage you can induce with an oxidizing chemical drops, whereas if they just had like orange Kool-Aid, didn't help. So, do people who eat more fruit walk around with less DNA damage? Yes, particularly in women. Does this actually translate into lower cancer rates? It appears so. Citrus alone, associated with a 10% reduction in odds of breast cancer. Given to newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, citrus phytonutrients were found to concentrate in breast tissue though many complained of citrus burps due to the concentrated extract they were given. So researchers evaluated topical application as an alternative dosing strategy, recruiting women to apply orange flavored massage oil to their breasts daily. This request was met with excellent compliance, but it didn't work. We actually have to eat our food. Why not just take carotenoid supplements to boost our DNA repair? Because it doesn't work, although dietary supplements did not provoke any alteration in DNA repair. Dietary supplementation with carrots did, and this suggests that the whole food may be important in modulating DNA repair processes. Though orange juice consumption was found protective against childhood leukemia, it was not found protective against skin cancer. However, the most striking feature was the protection purported by citrus peel consumption. Who eats orange peels? Lots of people, evidently. Just drinking orange juice may increase the risk of the most serious type of skin cancer. Daily consumption was associated with a 60% increase in risk. So again, better to stick with the whole fruit, and you can eat citrus extra whole by zesting peel into your dishes.