Nutrigenomics: Looking to DNA for nutrition advice

Abstract

32-40With the success of ‘Human Genome Project’ and the powerful tools of molecular biology, we have entered the era of genetic nutrition. The publication of the human ‘blue print’ has triggered an explosion in pharmaceutical research to utilize this knowledge in prescription of drugs to be tailored according to the genetic make up of susceptible individuals or in other words personalized medicine. Propelled by the recent unraveling of human genome; nutritional sciences are discovering the application of the so-called “omics” sciences. This has the potential of identifying and validating targets to improve personalized nutritional health and thus serves to define the added value for the next generation of foods and the crops. The first new term to emerge in this area was “Nutrigenomics.” Today, the term nutrigenomics generally refers to the study of how dietary components interact with the genome and modify subsequent gene expression1. It is envisaged that nutrigenomics will lead to evidence-based dietary interventions for prevention of diet related common diseases