Nutrigenomics: A combination of nutrition and genomics: A new concept

Abstract

The food habits and lifestyle of people is undergoing a lot of changes and these changes are having lot of negative repercussions on the health of individuals. In order to work towards health improvisation, various techniques and concepts are emerging day by day and one such constructive concept is Nutrigenomics. The branch of nutrigenomics studies the interaction of food and its components with the genome at molecular, cellular as well as systemic level, the major goal being using diet for the prevention or treatment of disease. It studies the relationship of nutrient and genes. The effects of nutrigenomics may be useful in ensuring improved health; wellbeing and good performance and also counteracting food intolerances, allergies, increased susceptibility to chronic diseases etc. It aims at providing diet to the individuals based on their genetic makeup and hence studies the effect of nutrients on genome, proteome and metabolome. The concept of nutrigenomics brings together the disciplines of bioinformatics, nutrition, molecular biology, genomics, epidemiology, and molecular medicine. This paper includes a concise review to the emerging and innovative field of nutrigenomics and outlines a number of advantages of the same.