4,000 experts in nutrition are sharing advances in nutrigenetics and childhood obesity at the 20th International Congress of Nutrition in Granada
Nutrigenetics focuses on the study of the individual’s genome and, based on these characteristics, determines a person’s risk of suffering a particular disease in the future.
More than 40 genes could influence the development of obesity
Nutrigenetics could be a very important component in fighting obesity. It could enable nutrition professionals to establish recommendations based on the ‘genome map’
The nutritionists gathered at the IUNS 20th International Congress of Nutrition have presented the results of the European ToyBox study, which will enable them to progress in preventing obesity and analysing future prospects.
One of the difficulties to prevent obesity is gaining access to the lower income population
Since the discovery of the human genome in 2001, nutrigenetics has made it possible to tailor nutritional guidelines to individuals, based on their DNA. Indeed, Dr. José Ordovás, Director of the Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics Laboratory at the University of Tufts (Boston, USA), states that «throughout history, nutrition has shaped our genes and acted as a catalyst for the changes that gave us the intellectual capacities we have today».
The current situation in nutrigenetics and its development in recent years is one of the fields analysed by the specialists gathered these days in Granada for the IUNS 20th International Congress of Nutrition.
Genetics and nutrition as biological activities are closely linked.
According to Dr. Ordovás, «each of us differs genetically from other humans and this means, among other things, that the interaction we each have with food and its nutrients may be slightly or drastically different. Thus, nutrigenetics focuses on the study of the individual’s genome and, based on these characteristics, determines a person’s risk of suffering a particular disease in the future. Thanks to this study, nutritionists can recommend a particular diet to minimise the risk».
How genes work depends on the intake of nutrients and other components in food. An example of this is lactose tolerance in adults which is limited to specific geographical areas but not others and is due to genetic differences.
Thus, the study of how foods interact with genes to produce different biological responses in each individual becomes part of nutrigenomics
