Nutrigenomics: An Overview

Abstract

Nutrition and genetics both play an important role in human health as well as in disease progression. The interaction between genetic and dietary influences can result in a higher risk of disease in certain individuals and populations. Recently, diet-gene association studies have revealed evidence on which to base gene-specific dietary intervention trials to confirm results. Nutrigenomics shows a new way of working with nutrition and now, the knowledge of how food interferes with the genetic code and how the organism responds to these interferences and with the phenotype can be clarified. There are many factors that can influence the response to diet such as age, sex, physical activity, smoking and genetics. Furthermore, the development inside Nutrition Sciences, together with communication and marketing fields, provided the emergence of a personalized nutritional counseling based in Nutrigenomics. The goal of personalized nutrition is to identify individuals who benefit from a particular nutritional intervention and identify alternatives for those who do not. Since the introduction of Nutrigenomics, there is an upgrade in how physicians and other professionals evaluate and treat different diseases. In this review, we have summarized the literature on the effects of diet on whole-body metabolism (i.e., genes, proteins, and metabolites) and the influence of genotype on nutritionally related diseases.