Nutrigenomics: A food trip to the future

Here’s big fat news: Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have been able to identify a gene called SCD-1 from mice and produce a mouse that didn’t get fat, no matter how much high-fat food it was fed, according to a Food Facts Asia report. Not get fat no matter how much fatty food was eaten? Yes, you read that right! Now, that’s every woman’s dream! More, all that fat the mouse ate did not accumulate in its liver or other tissues, where it was bound to cause health problems later on. Lucky mouse, huh? Well, caught in the daily rat race, researchers have also found a human equivalent of SCD-1, which may explain why some people are predisposed to obesity/overweight and why some others are more susceptible to the negative health effects of obesity, like a high risk of heart disease. It was also found that five percent of colon cancer cases are directly linked to "inherited susceptible genes." Then there are also genes that work less directly: They make the person more susceptible to the effects of food, which can either protect a person from cancer or make him/her more prone to it. Because of genetic differences, food that’s good for some individuals may have no effect or may even be harmful for other individuals. For instance, a high-fiber, low-fat and low-salt intake sounds like the ideal diet, but it may not work for some people. Like they say, one man’s food is another man’s poison. (Note, however, that while a low-fat diet may not lower cholesterol levels in people whose genes are not sensitive to this, the person will certainly reap other health benefits from a low saturated fat diet such as reduced risk of colon, pancreatic and breast cancer, and better weight management.)

The FFA report stoutly notes, "Researchers have found evidence that the foods that people eat can also directly interact with their genes and affect the instructions such genes send out to the body. Such variations in genetic makeup could be responsible for slower or faster metabolism of nutrients, leading to the production of toxic or carcinogenic compounds in the body, or protective factors such as increased production of heart-protective lipoproteins."

What we’re leading up to, before you foodies stuff yourself with goodies, is that a day will come when your dietitian or doctor will be able to prescribe a diet that’s tailor-made to your individual needs, based on your genetic profile. Now, how more personalized can a personalized diet get? Which brings us to "nutrigenomics" – studying how nutrition and genes mix. In the not-too-distant future, nutrigenomics experts will be able to dispense more tailored, personalized dietary prescriptions. Intelligent nutrition (read: knowledge of a person’s nutritional status, nutritional requirements and genetic profile), according to the US Centre of Excellence for Nutritional Genomics, may soon be used to "prevent or delay the onset of disease and optimize and maintain human health."

And that brings us to another exciting/enticing development in the future: Sooner than we think, food biotechnologists may be able develop foods that contain nutrients specifically designed to meet the genetic needs of the individual. Likewise, scrutinizing the genes of plants, scientists may be able to find new proteins and compounds with potential health benefits.

Again, to quote the report, "At the same time, knowledge of how these individual compounds work might tell us more about which compounds should be taken individually – perhaps as an extract – and which ones work better consumed in actual foods. Who knows, scientists might find that some antioxidants, taken in pill form, work just as well as the real thing and some work best in cooked, raw foods or even when used in specific recipes!"

Who knows, next time you ask a dietitian to prescribe a diet for you, the first thing he’ll do is to conduct a genetic test. According to the report, these precious bits of genome info may enable doctors/dietitians to come up with "individual profiles of disease susceptibility and nutritional interaction and design personalized diet plans to enhance nutrition or reduce the risk to diseases, not just based on a person’s age, nutritional status and requirements and lifestyle but also on his/her genetic profile."

A mind-blowing (but certainly heartwarming) prospect of nutrigenomics research is that doctors can now identify those who are at risk of developing chronic degenerative diseases, such as stroke, heart disease and diabetes, and design a tailor-made diet to prevent or delay the onset of a disease even before the symptoms manifest themselves. Talk about being proactive!

That’s the long-term goal of nutrigenomics. But there are also short-term diets. For instance, an athlete may be put on a diet that specifically matches his genetic profile only to improve his performance.

Then, too, certain foods may be prescribed to match a certain genetic profile to protect people from disease or to improve their health.

Next time you pop something into your mouth, it may help to know if the genes fit.