NUTRIGENETICS: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY IN THE FIELD OF NUTRITION
For most diners it is a totally unknown term, but nutrigenetics has as its focus of study something intrinsic in humans: the relationship between genes and response to diet. In other words, nutrigenetics explains why each person has a different reaction to the same foods. Furthermore, its objective is “to know and be able to modify environmental variables and thus achieve a healthy life through a personalized diet in order to avoid important pathologies. Today it is a reality to be able to carry out precise genetic studies that serve as a tool to generate personalized nutritional recommendations, adjust diet and lifestyle based on our genetic profile ”, they explain from the Spanish Foundation of Experts in Obesity. But what does it really consist of?
La dieta del ADN
More specifically, nutrigenetics studies our DNA to find out those environmental agents or factors that negatively affect us. The information stored by the more than 30,000 genes that reside in each individual determines the nutritional status, something that is completely beyond our control. Without going any further, in 2001, it was discovered that there are small genetic variations that influence the development of some diseases. By analyzing these genetic data, we can know if we are predisposed or not to suffer from these health problems in the future.
It helps us prevent diseases, identified through DNA, with specific dietary guidelines
A revelation that, undoubtedly, also affects diet, since nutrigenetics can offer us clues to counteract these provisional risk situations with a diet and lifestyle habits adapted to individual needs. What does this mean? That nutrition and health experts can help us prevent a series of diseases, identified through DNA analysis, with specific dietary guidelines. Thus reaching an almost complete personalization of the food. Diabetes, hypertension or cardiovascular diseases, very common in adults, are three of the most common cases.
“However, dietary recommendations can never be determined solely by genetic analysis, but this must be complemented with data obtained through anthropometric, biochemical, and family and dietary history analysis, and always with the advice of a professional nutritionist. “They add from CinfaSalud.
This is the nutrigenetic test
As we have just seen, the nutrigenetic test achieves a totally personalized healthy nutritional plan based on the information shared by our genes. Although its main function is to maintain the health of the patient, some experts also use it to lose weight. In fact, according to the Quirón Salud hospital group, it allows us to obtain optimal results three times faster than without a personalized diet and with a lower risk of rebound effect.
The study of DNA is carried out through saliva and analyzes a multitude of parameters and genetic variants that significantly affect our functional characteristics such as, for example, muscular performance, blood flow, the action of metabolism against fat, resistance insulin, cardiovascular risk, the inflammatory process of fat tissue, the body’s response to different nutrients, the ability to detoxify or aerobic potential, among others.
“Once the results are obtained, this information is a lifelong result for the patient, so they can work on it over the years without worrying about how it may vary,” they say from the Spanish Foundation of Experts in Obesity. Of course, remember that it should always be under the supervision of a nutritionist who knows how to arrange the different guidelines according to the needs, objectives and the patient’s clinical and family history.
And what is nutrigenomics?
In this case, we are facing the science that studies the relationship of food with the genome, hence the name by which it is also known: nutritional genomics. That is, nutrigenomics focuses on the way in which nutrients and other components of our diet interact or modulate genetic material. “By making a specific interpretation of the genetic material, the different types of diets could lead to different results, without forgetting individual variability”, they add from the Nutrigenomics Institute. This determines our physiological response to the food we eat.
Although currently the lines of research in which he works focus on preventing obesity -due to the youth of this branch of genetics-, in the future it could fulfill a function very similar to that exercised by nutrigenetics in the present, such as cardiovascular diseases or aging of cells. Time to time.
Leave a Reply