Gene Diet Interaction: Science of Nutrigenomics/Epigenetics

Science of Food Nutrition and Health

Vinod Puri

(Publishers: Austin Macauley Publishers, London, 2023)

Genes Diet Interaction: Science of Nutrigenomics/Epigenomics

We are cognizant of the role of inheritance through observation of traits of offspring and resemblance with our parents.   This is attributed to genes that are responsible for growth and differentiation in an organism. However, recent studies have revealed that there is an active interaction between food and genes resulting in the way our body functions. Researchers believe that such an interaction between genes and ingested food may govern the concentrations of different proteins in different organs and possibly regulate the various processes in gene expression. The studies related to food and gene interaction led to the development of a new discipline called Nutrigenomics.  Identifying these interactions between food and genes is the next step in understanding the nutritional demands of an individual. 

Nutrigenomics, therefore, deals with the study of the effects of dietary components on genes and their influence on the transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, and gene expression. It is primarily a new approach to nutrition research that may unravel how the diet/genome interaction modifies the phenotypes.

Transcriptome is a range of messenger RNA transcription that is expressed by the genome. Metabolome is the total number of primary and secondary metabolites that are present in a cell, tissue, or organism in a particular physiological or development state.  The proteome is a set of proteins that are involved in the biological processes of the organisms.

Further, the production of proteins is not only governed by genes but also via modification of DNA molecules which affects the gene expression rather than the genetic code itself.  These discoveries resulted in the science of Epigenetics which deals with the study of biological mechanisms that can switch genes on and off. Food is the key to bringing out these changes.  It has been proposed that epigenetic factors can control gene expression, DNA replication, DNA repair, and DNA recombination.  There is now a concerted effort to investigate the role of epigenetic changes that may control the development and function of cells in health and disease and to identify the possibilities of treating disease by altering the epigenetic control of genes. 

Research on nutrigenomics and epigenetics is very complex and still in its infancy, however, with advances in computational technologies along with bioinformatics, it may be possible in the very near future to unravel these complex interactions and enable nutritionists and clinicians to develop informed and practical recommendations to provide preventive health care for individuals based on nutrition and genetic variation. If successful it has the potential to prevent or even provide a cure for many non-transmissible chronic diseases

For details refer to Chapter 8 on Food and Genetics in my book Scienc of Food Nutrition and Health.

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