Why nutrigenomics?

Nutritional sciences have reached a cul-de-sac situation with their approach to develop dietary guidelines for the majority of individuals in the population by ignoring the variation of individual characteristics of influence on nutrient requirements. The new tools now available in the postgenomic era opens a new future for nutritionists being now able for the first time to screen the genetic background, to monitor the transcriptome, proteome and metabolome and to ultimately develop dietary strategies which are targeted to supply the optimum nutrition for single individuals. These tools are the focus of the new emerging field of nutrigenomics.

The omics cascade comprises complex datasets that as an entity comprehensively describe the response of biological systems to disease, genetic, and environmental perturbations. The most powerful database will integrate data from all omic levels. However, of these databases the metabolome is the most predictive of phenotype.

Click on the tools on the left hand side to receive more detailed information.