Nutrigenomics. Nutrigenetics. Epigenetics.
These words that once remained in the background of the health and nutrition fields are now at the forefront of research ventures and are gaining lots of media attention due to the potential they offer people and health professionals to make informed decisions.
Nutrigenomics, or nutritional genomics, nutrigenetics, or nutritional genetics, and epigenetics provide health professionals with the information that they need to offer customized nutritional recommendations to individuals based on genetic variations and life style. In fact, these fields allow health professionals to routinely identify what nutritional and lifestyle approaches are best for their clients to maximize optimal health. Last month, NutraIngredients featured a five-part series highlighting the past, present and future of these once unfamiliar fields and what they could mean for the future of health and nutrition.
Before diving into these fields, it’s important to understand how your genes are linked to your health, and thus why nutrigenomics, nutrigenetics and epigenetics are so useful for understanding your personal health needs. Genes, through the proteins they encode, determine certain functions, including how efficiently we metabolize foods, how effectively we detoxify harmful substances and how we respond to environmental conditions. It is now known that there are countless genetic variations in human populations. When a gene contains a variation (a change from the reference or native state), the protein encoded by that gene may be altered. That genetic alteration can be beneficial or disadvantageous. The goal of these new fields is to understand the impact of these gene alterations on diet, exercise and the environment, and vice versa.
Just what exactly does each field entail? Nutrigenomics refers to how the substances that a person consumes may influence his or her hereditary information or genome. Nutrigenomics is currently at the center of the customized nutrition revolution, sparking the interest of scientists and researchers worldwide. This is due to the ability of nutrigenomics to help people focus on and “capture health improvements, rather than health deterioration,” according to Dr. Ben van Ommen, Executive Director of Nutrigenomics Organization (NuGO). This would involve using a person’s genetic predispositions to determine the best diet and exercise habits based on his or her genetic makeup, rather than waiting until health conditions arise to make needed changes.
“A statistical genetic risk to a disease or condition does not mean that you will express the disease or condition… It is an important starting point, but then the freedom and responsibility is to choose your way; to choose the right diet and optimized lifestyle for your genetic pre-disposition.” – Professor Michael Müller, Scientific Director, Netherlands Nutrigenomics Centre at Wageningen University
It is important to understand the difference between nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics. Nutrigenetics refers to how a person’s genetic makeup will influence how he or she responds to diet, supplementation, etc, which is quite different from the nutrigenomics. Nutrigenetics involves identifying specific genetic variations in individuals to determine differences in gene expression, and it is based on the principle that ingested nutrients or a diet lacking of certain nutrients can have a direct effect on gene expression.
Similar to nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics, epigenetics should be acknowledged as its own field that seeks to explain a different set of interactions. Epigenetics is defined as, “the study of changes in gene activity that doesn’t involve a change to DNA.” It refers to how a person’s overall environment – including exercise, environmental exposures and nutrition – plays a distinct role in gene expression. This information is helpful because it allows people and health professionals to understand how factors such as where you live can affect your body, and how your body will show physical evidence of that effect.
All in all, nutrigenomics, nutrigenetics and epigenetics each have the potential to help people learn and understand their bodies and how and why they react to certain things, including diet, exercise and the environment. This new direction for nutrition is the opposite of the “one size fits all” approach, and instead aims to provide a customized synopsis of an individual’s health, helping them understand what options they have to reach optimal health. This new personal approach signals the start of a proactive outlook on health and nutrition that will result with each person having a dietary and exercise regimen that is personalized to his or her own needs.
For More Info: http://bit.ly/rulX2l
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment