Nutrigenomics, or nutrigenetics, is the study of how foods affect our genes and how individual genetic differences can affect the way we respond to nutrients (and other naturally occurring compounds) in the foods we eat. Nutrigenomics has received much attention recently because of its potential for preventing, mitigating, or treating human chronic diseases through highly informative dietary changes. The conceptual basis for this new branch of genomic research can best be summarized by the following five tenets of nutrigenomics:
1. Under certain circumstances and in some individuals, diet can be a serious risk factor for a number of diseases.
2. Common dietary chemicals can act on the human genome, either directly or indirectly, to alter gene expression or structure.
3. The degree to which diet influences the balance between healthy and disease 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, incidence, progression, and/or severity of chronic diseases.
5. Dietary intervention based on knowledge of nutritional requirement, nutritional status, and genotype (i.e., “personalized nutrition”) can be used to prevent, mitigate or cure chronic disease.
This course does not only focus on the theory, but is a very pragmatic course that will take the student step-by-step to design and write a comprehensive report that is articulated to address the role of a certain nutrient in the etiology or prevention of human chronic diseases. Full instructions about the guidelines for report writing are provided as an appendix for this course outline.