Today it is not
uncommon to discuss the etiology of
human disease in the context of genes,
environment, and nutrition. With the
sequencing of the human genome and the
rapid scientific advances that followed,
researchers have been able to explore
the linkage between diet and those
molecular processes that govern
long-term health and disease outcomes.
While the presence of a particular gene
variant may indicate a predisposition to
a particular disease, the expression of
the disease phenotype will depend on the
complex interplay between external
factors and the molecular components
that regulate expression of specific
genes. To fulfill the promise of
nutritional genomics, researchers must
reconcile the diverse properties of
dietary signals (metabolites and
peptides) with our current knowledge of
regulatory gene networks that control
higher-order disease traits. In addition
to increasing our understanding of the
inherited basis of disease, nutritional
genomics also promises to revolutionize
the way we manage health and disease
risk with genome based dietary
recommendations and other lifestyle
changes.
While knowledge of
human genome sequence is required for
nutritional genomics, it is not
sufficient to fully understand diet x
genome interactions and how they relate
to diseases such as obesity,
hypertension, type 2 diabetes,
cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Researchers will need a more integrative
view of the human genome, and how it
interacts with the environment, if they
hope to understand the more subtle
mechanisms by which nutritive and
non-nutritive bioactives impact gene
regulatory processes and the
physiologies they control. With this
understanding will come opportunities to
develop nutritional interventions and
dietary recommendations that will enable
individuals to achieve optimal health
earlier, and maintain it longer, with
evidence-based nutrigenomic diets. The
ultimate goal will be to use whole foods
in our diet to prevent some of the
catastrophic health outcomes currently
overtaking our children and impacting
their future health and longevity. This
focus on personalized nutrition will
have important implication for the
agricultural and food industries.
The commercialization
of nutritional genomic products and
services is already underway. It is
imperative, therefore, that leaders in
health care, professional societies, and
government agencies be aware of recent
advances in nutritional genomics so they
can properly evaluate the scientific
merit of personalized diets and provide
guidance to those consumer who wish to
tailor their diets to their individual
genetic makeup.
The primary goal of
this conference will be to provide a
platform for researchers, scientists,
educators, dietitians, health care
professionals and policy makers to
discuss the current status of
nutritional genomic research. Renowned
experts in the field will address the
latest scientific findings on the
mechanisms underlying diet-genome
interactions.
