aa01a4d963235a4fb0bd5d583dadf0d4fa5bda3f

What is Nutrigenetics?

What is Nutrigenetics?

 

Nutrigenetics is the discipline that studies the effects of individual genetic variations as the body’s response to nutrients.

 

What does this mean?

 

It means that not all of us react the same to food since it is preceded by our genes.

 

We have always said that certain diseases, such as obesity or diabetes, have different causes, which is why they are called multifactorial diseases. Hormonal factors, environmental factors (lifestyle), genetic factors…

 

Many of these factors can be changed but genetic factors cannot.

 

This does not mean that, since they are not modifiable, they must be taken for granted or put aside, quite the contrary, nutrigenetics is a very useful tool to prevent, mitigate, forecast or treat and cure this type of disease.

 

What is the interest of knowing your genes?

 

Knowing the genetic predisposition to a disease helps us control the other factors to take into account. For example, if you are predisposed to developing diabetes in the future, you do not have to develop it, you simply have to acquire healthy lifestyle habits to guarantee your good health and carry out regular checks on your blood glucose.

 

Example:

In the case of obesity, multiple factors are studied through genetic analysis. It indicates the degree of assimilation of food. A food is not completely absorbed by the body, but a certain percentage is absorbed and the rest is excreted, if you absorb a higher percentage of food, it is extra energy that the body does not need and accumulates in the form of fat, it is what is called as thrifty genotype.

 

Therefore, in the event that you have this genotype, we would have to give great importance to physical activity and the amounts of food and its type that are ingested.

 

What if I am not predisposed to these things?

 

If you get a low predisposition, what we have done is rule out a factor, then you have to reflect on whether or not we are doing it correctly with modifiable factors such as lifestyle.

 

For this reason, the interpretation of results is explained to you by health professionals in order to help you beyond the results of the analysis.

Collaborating nutritionist in Project Concept Pharmacy assistant at Implika training Master in Nutritional Education Juan Carlos III University