Healthy Lifestyle For All

Nutrigenomics: Where Diet and DNA Meet
Dr. Duke Johnson, M.D.
Medical Director, Nutrilite Health Institute

In the last decade, scientists have found that the effect of our diet on our bodies is far more complex than we ever imagined. These findings have opened up an exciting new area of science called nutrigenomics – the study of how diet works in our bodies at the molecular level.

In the past, we had a good idea of the ways the food we ate was used by our bodies, but we didn't understand the process completely. For many years, we have known our digestive tract breaks down food to its smallest building blocks, allowing the food to enter the bloodstream. For example, fats are reduced to fatty acids, and carbohydrates become simple sugars. These basic components – along with vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients – enter the bloodstream from the digestive tract, pass through the liver for processing, and are then transported to every living cell in our body.

Today, we know much more about what happens to those nutritional building blocks once they enter our cells. Not long ago, scientists believed these nutritional components did most of their work in the region of the cell located outside the nucleus called the cytoplasm. We knew these nutritional components were needed to produce energy and help with many other cellular functions. But, we were unaware these basic nutrients actually influenced our genetic code as well.

Recently, a significant amount of research has shown many of the nutrients we eat actually enter the cell nucleus and affect our genetic code, known as DNA. The nucleus is a special compartment inside the cell that holds our DNA. Another term for DNA is genome, and by combining the words "nutrients" and "genome," we get "nutrigenomics," the study of how the nutrients we eat affect our DNA.

The relationship between our diet and our DNA is quite complex. DNA is made up of genes, which are the "blueprints" of proteins responsible for running the reactions in our cells. Some genes make good proteins known as enzymes, and other genes make proteins that can be harmful to our health in large amounts. It is also important to know that all of our genes aren't always turned on. Genes are like a light switch. We turn them "on" or "off" with our lifestyle choices.

Nutrigenomics is helping us understand how nutrition affects our health better than ever before. For example, unhealthy foods may actually switch "on" some of those harmful genes. On the flip side, healthy foods that provide good nutrients can likely switch "off" those bad genes.

Though the science of nutrigenomics is relatively new, it is already allowing us to expand our knowledge of nutrition. As you can see, it is also strengthening the case for healthy eating – showing you that the food you eat has a tremendous effect on your health and disease risk, even at the genetic level.

Special Note: Fad diet promoters often have no knowledge of nutrigenomics and commonly recommend foods that turn on bad genes. Since we work with some of the most knowledgeable people in the field of nutrigenomics, you can feel confident that my recommendations concerning food take this field of science into consideration with your best health in mind.

Dr. Duke Johnson, M.D.
Medical Director, Nutrilite Health Institute