Nutrigenomics and Personalized Nutrition: Why Your Genes Should Be on Your Plate
Have you ever asked yourself why your friend is able to eat carbohydrates all day and be skinny, whereas you are adding pounds at the sight of a bowl of rice? Or why certain individuals can live well based on vegetarian diet but others are weak and fatigued without animal protein? It is, as a rule, in your DNA. Such is precisely what the science of nutrigenomics attempting to expose us to come to realize - and it is a transformation of the way we think about food forever.
Nutrigenomics is a branch of study of the interactions between our genes and the nutritional content that we consume. The name itself is a combination of two words: the science of genes, which is genomics, and nutrition.
In simple terms, nutrigenomics examines the ability of the food we eat to turn some genes on or off, and how our genetic composition dictates the reaction of our bodies to the food we eat. It is a two way process that our diet and our genes influence each other, and vice versa our genes and how we digest, absorb and utilize the nutrients in our food.
The fact that two individuals may consume the same food and come away with totally diverse results in their body is an intriguing fact to me. The reason is that of what is known as single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs (pronounced snips).
These are minor changes in our DNA make us genetically unique. Research that was published in the journal, Nature Genetics, shows that the human genome contains millions of SNPs and many of them are directly involved in regulating how we use certain nutrients such as fats, sugars, vitamins and minerals.
Simple examples are take lactose intolerance. Individuals with a variant in the LCT gene are unable to produce adequate lactase enzyme required to digest lactose, the sugar present in milk. Nevertheless, this is not a weakness that one can do away with, but it is hereditary. The logic of the same is extended to more complicated conditions. A research conducted in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition established that people with a particular type of the APOE gene are extremely different when it comes to the response to dietary fat.
Individuals with APOE4 are more likely to develop heart disease once they have a high amount of saturated fats in their diet whereas the other individuals who have other forms of the same gene do not have the same risk. This is something strong, with us, it makes us understand that a heart-healthy diet does not suit everyone.
Another nutrigenomics topic, which has been well studied, is fole metabolism. The individuals whose MTHFR gene has a variant have decreased capacity of transforming folate in food into the active form in the body.
This implies much to the pregnant women in particular since sufficient folate is very important in the prevention of neural tube defects among the growing babies. Eating additional greens might not be sufficient to these people, they might require a certain type of folate supplement. It is science telling us that general advice on dieting may not suffice.
Individual nutrition becomes an idea of direct connection to these results. Instead of adhering to generalized dietary recommendations, individualized nutrition focuses on creating a food plan in the context of the genetic profile, lifestyle, intestinal microbiome, and health history of a person. Genetic testing kits are now available in companies that analyze your DNA and give nutritional advice that is personalized to you.
Although this is still in its infancy, a groundbreaking study, the PREDICT study, a study conducted by researchers of King College London, and published in the journal Nature Medicine in 2020 demonstrated that individuals responded to the same foods dramatically different in terms of their blood sugar and fat levels, even identical twins. This has proved that genes do not tell all the story but there is a significant section that it contributes to the puzzle.
In my opinion, this science teaches a valuable lesson that we should cease comparing our diets to the diets of other individuals. Something might have been effective to another person and that is absolutely normal. The nutrigenomics is aimed not to complicate nutrition. It is to make it more accurate.
This is a young science, and there is more research to be accomplished before the concept of personalized nutrition becomes standardized healthcare. But the foundation is solid. With the increased knowledge, the future of nutrition is not less and more eating, but eating well, specifically, as far as you are concerned. The genes you have are never your fate, but they are by a long way your best instructions.
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