Unlocking the Secrets of Nutrigenomics: How Your Diet Influences Your Genes

Nutrigenomics…what the heck is it?!

Bioinformatics, molecular biology, genomics, epidemiology.

HANNAH WHAT LANGUAGE ARE YOU SPEAKING?!

I know, I know - it’s science overload! But this is a topic I’ve been wanting to talk about for soo long so let’s get into it and I’ll break it all down!

In short, nutrigenomics is the study that the food we consume sends messages to our genes “instructing” our body to boost our metabolism or store energy. The thought process is, if you can understand what foods trigger what “instruction”, you can optimize your health and wellbeing.

Now, there’s two sides to this. The idea of optimizing your health and wellbeing and the severe lack of research that exists on this topic.

The study of nutrigenomics has been focused on changing the genes within our bodies to specifically eliminate or reduce the risk of chronic illness such as cancers, diabetes, and heart disease. The research has shown positive outcomes of these studies, indicating that it could be a possibility in changing our genes by changing what we eat.

So, we can get rid of all bad health things by eating differently?

Nutrigenomics say YES...but what's the catch?

Unfortunately, all the research done on nutrigenomics is brand spanking new research. There are limited studies showing long term effects on controlling out genetic makeup based on our nutritional intake and there is also limited research in how long these effects take place. Because nutrigenomics only started being studies in the 1980's, it's still a newer idea in the science world. It's also hard to determine exactly how effective it could be overall as each of our individual nutritional needs vary from person to person.

Can it change your genes if you have more than one known health issue? We don't know.

To what extend can it "reverse" chronic illness? We don't know.

If you don't have chronic illness, would it even be suitable to focus on your nutrigenomics or could it become harmful and more of a reason to promote a "fad diet"? We don't know.

With the unknown being sooooo vast, it's hard to get behind the science while it's still so new. But it is a fascinating topic to keep eyes on! It's not secret that what we eat affects our inner and outer body, but to what extend are we willing to have the relationship between our body and food be focused on medical nutrients or be focused on pleasure consumption?

I think the answer is in the balance!

Knowing how to nourish our bodies to keep us medically healthy while also honoring our cravings, pleasure foods, and enjoyment around meals can keep us healthy both medically and emotionally!