Nutrigenomics: Your genes decide what to make of the food you eat

Article by: Oshin Theodore

The type of foods that we consume varies from one geographical location to another. Within a geographic region, it may also differ among communities and families, and even from person to person. Flora and fauna of the location we live in, the culture and traditions that envelop us, have a significant impact on our eating habits. Over the years, we have evolved to identify, categorize, process, store and consume foods. These practices have driven researchers to study how different types and forms of food can affect our bodily functions. The success of the mighty ‘Human genome project’ amplified nutrition research, which has been studied under the umbrella term, “nutrigenomics”. Nutrigenomics is the science that studies the relationship between the human genome, nutrition and health. Sound knowledge of the genotype as well as the metabolic variations in response to diet is key to gaining deep insights into understanding risk factors for diseases.?

Does our diet interact with our genome to produce a particular phenotype?

Lucas Laursen, in his article concerning nutrigenomics, states that there could be small, innumerable mutations, called ‘Single nucleotide polymorphisms’ (SNPs) that affect enzyme and hormone production, hence controlling metabolism. This could explain the manifestation of a particular phenotype in an organism.

In another study led by Gertruud et al., 36 healthy, but overweight men,? were subject to an anti-inflammatory diet. The result was an increase in the concentration of adiponectin, an anti-inflammatory protein in their bloodstream. The team was hence able to identify more than 500 diet-driven changes.?

The interplay between Nutrigenomics and Epigenetics

Nutrigenomics is the study of two-way interactions between genes and diet. Epigenetics, on the other hand, is the study of understanding how the environment induces heritable changes in gene expression without altering the DNA nucleotide sequence. Significant epigenetic mechanisms include DNA methylation (DNAm) and histone modification.

A vast array of research trials conducted in the field of nutrigenomics show that nutrition plays a role in modulating epigenetic events associated with various diseases like cancer, obesity and diabetes. However, there is an indirect epigenetic link between nutrition and longevity that needs to be strongly endorsed by biological studies in order to have a good perception of the epigenetic role of nutrition in altering longevity.

Precision Nutrition

Omics technologies including metabolomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metagenomics play an important role in nutrition science. Precision nutrition makes it necessary to understand an individual’s response to a specific diet. Currently, there is substantial research interest in microbiome-based precision nutrition, which can be used to predict or treat metabolic health indicators like glycaemic response and variability. An important study in this area, led by David et al., demonstrated that, despite significant interpersonal variation in postprandial glucose response, personalized diets including routine dietary habits, physical activity and gut flora could successfully reduce blood glucose responses.?

The modern nutrigenomics age has seen a significant increase in the use of genotypic information to design and deliver personalized dietary advice. If you would want to improve your nutrition, you would specifically need to focus on re-considering where, when, and how much of what to eat. The discovery of new models and tools like stem cell-based approaches and genome editing has made it possible to transform nutrition research.?

The application of nutrigenomics research has the potential to improve public health using metabolomics approaches and identify novel biomarkers of food intake. Nutrigenomics may also be able to enhance personalized nutritional approaches, thus helping individuals make healthier choices and improve their quality of life.

References

[1] Hunter, Philip. "We are what we eat: The link between diet, evolution and non‐genetic inheritance." EMBO reports 9.5 (2008): 413-415.

[2] Laursen, Lucas. "Interdisciplinary research: big science at the table." Nature 468.7327 (2010): S2-S4.

[3] Bakker, Gertruud CM, et al. "An antiinflammatory dietary mix modulates inflammation and oxidative and metabolic stress in overweight men: a nutrigenomics approach." The American journal of clinical nutrition 91.4 (2010): 1044-1059.

[4] Brennan, Lorraine, and Baukje de Roos. "Nutrigenomics: lessons learned and future perspectives." The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 113.3 (2021): 503-516.

[5] Zeevi, David, et al. "Personalized nutrition by prediction of glycemic responses." Cell 163.5 (2015): 1079-1094.

[6] Mathers, John C. "Nutrigenomics in the modern era." Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 76.3 (2017): 265-275.

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