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Nutrigenomics is the study of the effects of food and food constituents on gene expression, and how genetic variations affect the nutritional environment. It focuses on understanding the interaction between nutrients and other dietary bioactives with the genome at the molecular level, to understand how specific nutrients or dietary regimes may affect human health.
Zhu et al. explore the relationship between dietary factors and multidimensional aging measures, including telomere length, biomarker-based phenotypic age, and brain grey/white matter volumes, using UK Biobank data. They find causal benefits of carbohydrate intake on aging, such as reducing phenotypic age and enhancing whole-brain grey matter volume.
Researchers are adopting the tools of bioinformatics and pharmaceuticals to study and interpret the ever-growing body of data on the interplay between diet and genes.
The pioneers of nutrition research determined the energy content of food and also helped to overturn misconceptions about various diseases that plagued humankind.
Diet-related illnesses are some of the biggest killers today. Can we tailor our food intake to prevent these diseases? Large international projects are underway to find out.
