Nutrigenomics: A new direction in periodontics

Abstract

Nutrigenomics is an emerging science which investigates a certain area of nutrition that uses molecular tools to search, access and understand the several responses obtained through a certain diet applied between individual and population groups. Nutrition research is investigating on how nutrition can optimize and maintain cellular, tissue, organ and whole body homeostasis. This requires the understanding that how nutrients act at the molecular level which inturn involves a multitude of nutrient related interactions at the gene, protein and metabolic levels. As a result, nutrition research shifted from epidemiology and physiology to molecular biology and genetics and nutrigenomics was born. Nutrigenomics involves the characterization of gene products, their physiological function and their interactions. It focuses on the effect of nutrients on genome, proteome, metabolome and explains the relationship between these specific nutrients and nutrient regimes on human health. This article aims to review the interrelation between periodontal health and nutrigenomics.