Lead Article

You Are What You Eat

Studies linking how genes and diet interact are helping food companies design products capable of protecting people prone to certain diseases.

Some people eat three-egg omelettes topped with slivers of bacon and show no sign of a spike in cholesterol. Others indulge in one chocolate bar after another and stay as thin as a rake. Many, however, are less fortunate. Current research suggests that the culprit may be found in one's genes. Differences in genetic make-up may not only determine the body's ability to metabolize certain nutrients, such as fats and lactose, but also its susceptibility to disease.

The good news is that, within five years or so, researchers should learn how to modify people's diets to fit their genes and thereby prevent or delay the onset of a possible illness. At least, that is the goal of nutritional genomics - a new field that studies how genes and diet interact.

Projects in nutritional genomics are sprouting around the globe. Europe is merging its efforts in the field by launching NuGO early next year, a network that aims to integrate and develop the new branch of research. In America, the National Institutes of Health recently granted the University of California at Davis $6.5m to establish a Center of Excellence for Nutritional Genomics.

In addition, there are international projects under way, such as HapMap, that focus on studying the pattern of inheritance of single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs (pronounced "snips"). These are places where the message encoded in the genome may vary by a single genetic "letter" between individuals. SNPs may determine differences in appearance, such as hair and eye color, predisposition to illnesses, and how people respond to foods and drugs. Nutrition will be an important part of the new paradigm of "personalized medicine" and preventive health care, says Craig Venter, who spearheaded a private effort to sequence the human genome, and is now collaborating with Duke University Medical Center to include genomic information in health-care planning. More ...