The Future of Nutrigenomics

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Blog Post #2

Nutrigenomics is a growing trend in the field of nutrition and dietetics. It is the study of the genetic response to diet and how this interaction plays a role in the predisposition of disease. It also goes deeper to look at how nutrients alter the DNA transcription and translation process to ultimately affect health outcomes. The idea is that nutrigenomics will allow dietitians to personalize diet prescriptions for individuals based upon their genetic makeup and response to certain foods. According to Today’s Dietitian, genes may affect appetite, calorie intake, macronutrient preferences, insulin signaling, inflammation, and the formation of fat cells.

             I think the growing trend of nutrigenomics is a great thing. I believe that genetics plays such a large role in a person’s overall health and nutrigenomics could be exactly what we have needed to help determine what diet is going to result in the most desired health outcomes. The standards we use today, are just standards that worked for some specific people during some specific study. The issue with this is that not everyone will always meet those standards which may affect the effectiveness of their diet prescription. Nutrigenomics will allow for very individualized care and hopefully a higher demand for dietitians.
           As soon-to-be dietitians, we should know the upcoming technology and how it is going to help grow our field. As we continue to conduct studies and bring about new technology, we  become a profession that is high in demand and remain cutting edge. 

http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/1017p30.shtml

SR

Comments

  1. ksu internsDecember 3, 2017 at 1:34 PM

    I think this could be a very revolutionary area of study. If we can learn why we crave certain foods and how our body wants to eat it could really inform our diet choices and eat smarter. The problem I have with this is I believe dietary choices are largely social, not genetic. There is certainly a genetic component to it, but I think the research will end up finding we can only learn so much about our diet choices from our genes, the rest is just habit we form through social conditioning. Very interesting trend though, would love to see more research go into this.

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