Have you ever wondered:

• Why some people eat a high-fat diet and not gain a single pound or develop any health issues while it is completely opposite for others?
• Why two people living under one roof, eating the exact same foods have different nutrition-related health issues?
• Why your weight loss attempts do not give optimum results but others have achieved success in the same program?

The answer to this mystery is here now – it is proven and it is real!! NUTRIGENOMICS. Nutrigenomics is the study of the effects of foods on our genes and understanding food-gene interactions. Simply, It is the study of the impact of nutrients from food on your body, based on your genetic composition. Let’s take an example - when I drink caffeine, my blood pressure goes up but some people find tea to have a calming effect on their bodies.  Now the research has proven that caffeine can either be your friend or foe depending on your genetic composition. There is a gene, called CYP1A2 which directs your liver to make one of two enzymes: CYP1A2 fast or CYP1A2 slow.  If you have the gene that makes the fast version of CYP1A2, your body processes the caffeine from your bloodstream very quickly and has a positive impact on your heart health. However, if you have the gene that makes the slow version of CYP1A2, your body processes the caffeine from your bloodstream very slowly leading to an increased risk of heart disease. I can be sure to have the slow version of CYP1A2. Interesting!! Isn’t it? Our genes respond differently to certain nutrients and have different effects on our bodies. According to the UC Davis NCHMD Center of Excellence for Nutritional Genomics [1], there are five tenets of nutrigenomics, which can be summarized as:

1. Diet can be a serious risk factor for a number of diseases.
2. Common dietary chemicals can act on the human genome to alter gene activity or gene structure.
3. The degree to which diet influences the balance between healthy or diseased states may depend on an individual’s genetic makeup.
4. Some diet-regulated genes (and their normal, common variants) are likely to play a role in the onset, severity and progression of chronic diseases.
5. Dietary intervention based on knowledge of nutritional requirement, nutritional status and a person’s genotype can prevent, mitigate or even cure chronic disease.

The application of Nutrigenomics seems very powerful. It may lead to personalized nutrition for disease prevention and treatment, or it may help to understand the nature of the disease and individual response to nutrients. There are few companies like Fitgenetix that provide a simple, in-home DNA test to create a personalized exercise and nutritional plan based on your genome. They also provide fresh meals designed for your DNA delivered directly to you. Please contact us if you are interested in learning more about Nutrigenomics and how it can help you in losing weight, customized exercising, preventing disease or to get into better health overall.