Molecular nutrition

Science of the future for personalized nutritional treatment and health

Abstract

Nutritional status is a phenotype as result of the interaction between the genotype and the environment (especially the diet). The genetic variations of each person determine their physical characteristics and the direction of metabolic pathways. The most common genetic variations are the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The compounds contained in the food and SNPs regulate genetic expression of proteins which contribute in the developing of healthy phenotype or pathological. Molecular nutrition focuses to elucidate the interaction between genes and nutriments. From here, Nutrigenomics and Nutrigenetics come out. Nutrigenomics explores the effects of nutrients on the genes expression whereas Nutrigenetics studies the effect of genetic variation on the interaction between diet and disease. In the future, molecular nutrition has the potential to provide a basis for personalized dietary recommendations based on the individual’s genetic makeup in order to prevent common multifactorial disorders. However, the way is still long to understand completely the metabolism in humans and how the diet and the genes influence it.