Nutrigenetic and Nutrigenomic Report
You are reading this because you are interested to learn about how the science of nutrigenetics, nutrigenomics, and epigenetics can help you lose weight, sharpen your mind, boost your energy, and ensure the health of your children. First, I want to ask you a question.
How did humans figure out what to eat before we had diet books, food pyramids, and health experts?
Was it only by taste or ease of procurement? Or did traditional cultures observe the effects of how eating combinations of different food led to health vibrancy for both parents and offspring?
Now, let me ask you a second question. Why do you eat the way you do now?
Do you eat what you do because of taste, convenience, or cost? Do you eat what you grew up eating? Or, do you eat because you know that what you put in your body is providing the perfect building blocks for success?
OK, I get it, those are both pretty leading questions. But, if you’re like I was a few years ago, you probably eat the things that simply taste good to you, that maybe you grew up eating, or that are quick and easy to prepare. Perhaps you pay attention to eating “healthy” things, but then that brings up the question “how do you know what is healthy for you?” For the first time in human history, we have instant access to nearly every food grown or made across the world at any time of year. And, for the first time in human history, commercial interests are vying for your food budget with little to no concern for long term health effects. So, if you want to eat healthier, how do you know what to eat?
You could follow one of the hundreds of fad diet books written each year. But, when you get right down to it, none of those plans can possibly take into account your unique body, metabolism, and biochemistry. Those diets might work for some people some of the time, but because of our unique differences, they just don’t work for all people all the time. Traditional cultures eating traditional foods often had systems, such as Ayurveda or the Chinese 5 Element System, to determine what the appropriate nutrition was for the individual. The idea of a “food pyramid” or standard plan that should apply to everyone, is something relatively new. And, with the obesity epidemic getting worse every day, that approach clearly has failed. Is there a better way?
A resounding “Yes!” comes from the sciences of nutrigenomics, nutrigenetics, and epigenetics.
So, what are these things and how can they help you?
Nutrigenetics is the study of how to eat for your genes. There are tiny variations in each of our genetic codes that affects our individual metabolic response to nutrients. This knowledge can then be applied to develop personalized nutrition for people based on their individual genetic makeup. For instance, if you had a genetic variation that made it difficult to transport saturated fat in the body, we would alter the diet to include less saturated fat. Or, for someone who may have a genetic predisposition to have lower conversion from the inactive form of vitamin A (beta-carotene) to the active form of vitamin A (retinol), we would add foods high in retinol into the diet or supplement extra retinol to help offset the genetic predisposition. There are hundreds of variations that can give us clues to how to support your underlying biology.
Nutrigenomics is the study of how food and nutrients effect gene expression. Epigenetics is the study of how genes change their expression, or how the products of those genes are modified or regulated, in response to stimuli such as food. Genes can be “turned up” or “turned down” through a variety of different mechanisms and this can happen either before birth or during the course of life. Our genes are actually highly responsive to the environment, and are constantly assessing the signals our minds and bodies are receiving and creating. Nutrigenomics allows us to very precisely modify some of the most very basic layers of the human system in order to positively change the outcome of your genetic expression. For example, if you have a g