Nutrigenomics is a field of wellness that combines nutrition and genetics to understand how people respond to food and lifestyle choices based on their genetic profile. It is about understanding how individual genetic differences can affect the way people respond to the foods they eat. For example, we all have a gene that plays a role in breaking down caffeine. For some, this gene or rather its variant means that caffeine is broken down slowly or incompletely creating an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Taking a nutrigenomic approach to wellness means understanding how diet alters our cellular and physiological systems to promote wellness or disease. More simply it is about using diet, including nutritional supplements to positively influence the functioning of your genes. The 5 key principles of nutrigenomics are:
- Diet can be a significant risk factor in numerous health conditions including disease;
- Diet can act on the genome to alter gene expression;
- Diet influence on wellness depends on individual genetic make-up;
- Diet related genes play a role in the onset and severity of chronic illness;
- Diet specific to a person’s nutritional requirements can prevent or cure chronic disease. Alternatively it can increase wellness.
