Nutrigenomics is the application of the sciences of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics to human nutrition, especially the relationship between nutrition and health. Nutrition and health research is focussed on the prevention of disease by optimising and maintaining cellular, tissue, organ and whole-body homeostasis. This requires understanding, and ultimately regulating, a multitude of nutrient-related interactions at the gene, protein and metabolic levels. These new disciplines and their attendant technologies are changing the paradigms of health research.
Interindividual differences were recognised early in nutrition research, and phenotypes were described. With the progress in genetics, biochemical disorders with high nutritional relevance were linked to a genetic origin. Genetic disorders with pathological effects were described (e.g. the few genes with pathological obesity. Other gene polymorphisms were described with consequences for human nutrition. The folate metabolism is a good example, where a common polymorphism exists for the gene that encodes the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR). It was realised however, that many, possibly thousands of other gene polymorphisms might result in minor deviations in nutritional biochemistry, where only marginal or additive effects would result from these deviations. The tools to study the physiological impact were not available at the time and are only now becoming available.
Nutrigenomics is associated with the issue of personalized nutrition, since claims are being made that differences in genotype should result in differences in the diet and health relationship.
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