Nutrigenetics investigates the influence of personal genetic variations on diversity as a response to dietary components, nutritional requirements, and predisposition to disease. Nutrigenetics refers to the identification of an individual’s genetic makeup, which is coordinated with the response to nutrients from food. Nutrigenetics studies the effect of genetic variation on diet response to disease risk. There are numerous examples of polymorphisms in genes involved in the regulation of food intake, lipid and lipoprotein metabolism, insulin signaling, glucose and amino acid metabolism, and chronic inflammation, as well as the response to weight loss, weight gain, insulin resistance, or
serum lipid levels
.Research in nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics is based on the assumption that there are individual differences in the response to acute or repeated exposures to a particular nutrient or combination of nutrients. Although observational studies provide indirect evidence of interindividual differences in response to exposures, 1.6 causal relationships cannot be proven from such studies. Of course, observational studies can be extensive, although exceptional, but that cannot offset the fact that many confounding factors may contribute to the heterogeneity of the trait of interest, which ultimately results in increasing or reducing the interaction effect between genes and diet. More meaningful evidence of the role of genomic traits in dietary responses can be derived from intervention studies, preferably from randomized controlled trials
.
Nutrigenetics and pharmacogenetics study how individual genetic makeup, which manifests itself as single nucleotide and copy number polymorphisms and epigenetic factors, influences sensitivity to diet and medications. In contrast, nutrigenomics (and pharmacogenomics) turns the relationship on its head and looks at how diet (or medication) influences gene transcription, protein expression, and metabolism. Nutrigenetics studies common genetic variants (usually SNPs) that affect the activity of proteins involved in the assimilation, transport, and metabolism of nutrients in food. Advances in nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics have significantly contributed to the proof that nutritional requirements from
person to person is different.
This is illustrated by studies on the nutrient choline, which have shown that sex, single nucleotide polymorphisms, estrogen status, and composition of the gut microbiome influence optimal uptake levels. Choline is an essential nutrient with a variety of biological functions. Recent studies aim to improve our understanding of its needs and, more importantly, to define the molecular mechanisms that mediate its action during sub-optimal food intake. This chapter introduces the reader to the challenges of developing individual dietary recommendations, the biological function of choline, current and future research paradigms to fully understand the consequences of inadequate choline nutrition, and some future-oriented considerations about the potential of individual dietary recommendations to become a concrete application for improved health. This branch of science will reveal the optimal diet within a series of dietary changes, whereas nutrigenetics provides important information that helps clinicians identify the optimal diet for a specific person,
i.e.
At present, it appears that pharmacogenomics is more advanced and that nutrigenetics has a larger body of data than training genomics. The response to bioactive food components depends on the genetic background (nutritional effects), which can influence absorption and metabolic goals or sites of action. Second, nutrigenetics is becoming contradictory not only because of its interdisciplinarity, but also because of wider historical trends that have shaken up the identity of medicine in the course of its transition from curative to preventive medicine. Pharmacogenomics, nutrigenetics and movement genomics represent the most important cornerstones
of personalized preventive and therapeutic medicine.
Nutrigenetics is about understanding how an individual’s genetic background affects nutrition (1. Nutrigenetic testing is already on the market, and it is inevitable that healthcare professionals will receive inquiries from patients or clients seeking advice on interpreting the tests they have purchased. Nutritional genomics focuses on the interaction between bioactive food components and the genome, including nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics. During the field work, an industry representative explained that companies must now decide whether they would start selling nutritional genetic tests in conjunction with “diet drinks and skin creams,” which no one seriously believes are effective, or in the form of cardiovascular products that require scientific evidence. The impact of nutrients on the expression of F genes is known as nutrigenomics, while the heterogeneous response of gene variants to nutrients, dietary components, and evolving nutracetics
is known as nutrigenetics.
Since nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics have much in common with movement genomics, it was considered appropriate to include a chapter on the latter in this volume.
References:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3481686/
- Why Is Nutrigenomics The Biggest Flop In Digital Health?