Host genetics and nutrition.

ABSTRACT

Optimal nutrition is essential for health and physiological performance. Nutrition-related diseases such as obesity and diabetes are major causes of death and reduced quality of life in modern Western societies. Thanks to combining nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics, genomic nutrition allows the study of the interaction between nutrition, genetics and physiology. Currently, interrelated multi-genetic and multifactorial phenotypes are studied from a multiethnic and multi-omics approach, step by step identifying the important role of pathways, in addition to those directly related to metabolism. It allows the progressive identification of genetic profiles associated with specific susceptibilities to diet-related phenotypes, which may facilitate individualised dietary recommendations to improve health and quality of life.