The answer is to understand the health effects of complex interactions between genetics, the microflora (bacteria that live in the gut), levels of diet and physical activity, and other social and behavioral characteristics. It may be the desired precision nutrition.
This means that everyone can have their own nutritional requirements.
Below is an edited version of our conversation.
CNN: How is precision nutrition different from current nutritional advice?
Dr. Frank Fu: The idea of precision nutrition is to get the right amount of the right food for the right person. This precise approach does not provide general dietary recommendations for all, but nutritional recommendations tailored to individual characteristics such as genetic background, microbiota, social and environmental factors. Adjust. This will help you achieve better health outcomes.
CNN: When it comes to what to eat, why isn’t there a universal prescription?
Martha Field: Individuals have unique reactions to their diet, and precision nutrition “fine-tuning” understands those reactions. This means understanding the interactions between genetics, individual differences in metabolism, and responses to exercise.
CNN: How do we now eat based on the principles of precision nutrition?
Hu: There are several examples of individualized diets for disease management, such as a gluten-free diet for the management of celiac disease and a lactose-free diet for lactose intolerance. For individuals with a condition known as PKU (Phenylketonuria), they should (a) eat a diet that does not contain phenylalanine. This is a rare condition, but it is a classic example of what kind of diet the gene affects.
Angela Pool: If you have a family history of high cholesterol, diabetes, or colon cancer, eat different sources, including different vegetables, to increase your fiber intake.
Field: If you have high blood pressure, you need to be more aware of your sodium intake. Anyone with malabsorption problems may need higher levels of micronutrients, such as B vitamins and some minerals.
Hu: Some people have a fast caffeine metabolism gene. Others have slow genes. If you have a fast (metabolizing) genotype, caffeine is quickly broken down so you can drink a lot of caffeinated coffee. If you are a slow metabolite, you may be shivering and unable to sleep with coffee in the afternoon. In that case, you can get the benefits of coffee polyphenols associated with reducing the risk of heart disease and diabetes while drinking decaffeinated coffee without being affected by caffeine.
CNN: How many roles do our individual genes play in our risk of illness? And can our actions reduce the risk of our illness?
Field: The environmental impact can be as great as the genetic impact on the risk of illness.
CNN: Our individual microbiota may be able to dictate what type of diet we should eat. Please tell us about this new research. And what do you think about the microbiota test?
Pool: Studies have shown that eating bananas has higher blood sugar levels than eating cookies, which is related to the composition of the microbiota. Scientists have used microbial flora data to build algorithms that can predict an individual’s glucose response. This is a big step forward. But that’s not an excuse for me to shovel cookies instead of bananas. Similarly, if the algorithm suggests eating white bread instead of whole wheat bread for a glycemic response, I’m not always just eating white bread.
At this time, we are not ready to spend a lot of money to see what is in the gut flora … and the microbiota changes over time.
Hu: The microbiota test is not cheap, and the promise that this test will help create a personalized diet plan that can improve blood glucose and blood cholesterol … The data are not conclusive at this time.
CNN: What is the difference in nutritional advice 10 years from now?
Pool: You will receive a custom-made grocery list in the app based on your blood glucose response to food, your level of physical activity, and more. The foods you want to buy and the foods you want to avoid.
Hu: There are more better biomarkers, more affordable and accurate nutritional genomics and microbial flora testing, and better computer algorithms to predict your response to food intake.
However, these techniques cannot replace common nutritional principles such as limiting the addition of sodium and sugar or eating healthier vegetable foods. Asking her what to eat within a few years may give her a more useful response, but like Alexa’s other answers, take it with a grain of salt. is needed.
Lisa Drayer is a nutritionist, author and contributor to CNN’s health and nutrition.
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