What is Precision Nutrition and how to bring it into your day to day?

There is a proven relationship between the intake of certain foods and their impact on health. As an example, the intake of whole grains has been linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. But not only what we eat is important but also how it is prepared or processed.

Grinding the grains to obtain refined cereals removes the germ and the bran from the endosperm and this protective effect is lost. It has been suggested that the fiber content of whole grains helps reduce the glucose / insulin response after meals, it also decreases the concentration of total cholesterol and low-density lipoproteins (LDL, the so-called 'bad cholesterol') and improves the functional properties of the tract digestive.

Likewise, although the consumption of meat contributes protein and amino acids, necessary for a correct growth and maintenance of the organism; high consumption of processed meat, regardless of type (beef, pork or chicken), has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes. In this case, it appears that the presence of sodium (table salt), nitrates and nitrites, as well as final products of advanced glycation (AGEs) found in these types of products, could explain this increased health risk cardiovascular.

Of course, the balance between health and disease does not depend exclusively on diet, but is influenced by numerous factors. Although, diet has a relevant role and many chronic diseases They could be prevented to a large extent by taking care of the diet and promoting healthy habits. In fact, most of the common diseases in our environment are due to diet monitoring inappropriate and this results in a significant loss of years of healthy life in westernized societies such as ours.

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-Omics and nutrigenomics technologies

The effect of food and its ingredients on health is due to its specific action on the function of cells. Nutrients, directly or indirectly, are substrates of metabolic pathways and their contribution through the diet can modulate cellular metabolism, activate some metabolic pathways and slow down others. For example, a diet rich in carbohydrates and low in fat stimulates the 'de novo' synthesis of fatty acids in the liver. The body tries to compensate, to the extent of its possibilities, the deficits or excesses that we commit in the diet. Disease arises when your efforts have not been effective enough.

In the last 20 years, there have been important advances in metabolism study techniques, associated with the development of what is called high-performance post-genomic technologies. These new tools are able to characterize in great detail the molecules of our cells, their interrelation and their regulation. The -omic technologies have specific names depending on the molecule under study.

A) Yes, mass genotyping, together with functional genomics, have made it possible to understand the sequence of the human genome and begin to understand its function; is complemented by transcriptomics that studies the expression and functioning of genes, proteomics that studies the different proteins and metabolomics that studies the metabolites, substrates and products of the pathways metabolic. Together these -omics technologies help us to understand to a level of detail that was not possible before, the functioning of the metabolism and its regulation.

In this context, Nutrigenomics arises as the discipline that addresses the study of the effect of nutrients on metabolism making use of -omic technologies. In particular, Nutrigenomics studies changes in the expression of genes in response to diet, when we can understand the interaction produced we are closer to designing more effective nutritional strategies to combat or prevent diseases related to diet.

We know that not all people respond in the same way to a diet. Obesity is difficult to treat and, in part, it is due to the fact that not all individuals present the same metabolic response when following a specific diet. There are molecular differences between individuals, some encoded in DNA, in our genome, and they are responsible for the interindividual variability that occurs before certain stimuli, such as a diet. This specific part of Nutrigenomics is studied by the discipline we call Nutrigenetics.

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SNPs and Nutrigenetics

Although the genome is almost identical in all individuals of the human species, there are small differences, interindividual variations in the DNA sequence of different people. These different sequences are called polymorphisms., and can affect our appearance, our metabolism and health and also the way we respond to a diet or strategy to counteract obesity.

There are several types of genetic differences, and the simplest consist of punctual variations of one nucleotide by another in specific positions of the DNA; It is what we call single nucleotide polymorphisms (or SNPs, which we pronounce Snips, from English single nucleotide polymorphism).

SNPs are the simplest and most common form of genetic variation, accounting for about 90% of all polymorphisms in human DNA, and have been estimated that in total, there are approximately 10 million SNPs. Other genetic variations consist of deletions or insertions of fragments of hundreds of nucleotides. The impact of SNPs and the different variations that we can find depends on their position, of the function that this DNA sequence performs and can be from remarkable to almost priceless.

Let's see the relevance that SNPs may have in the genetic predisposition to obesity with the example of the FTO gene. The presence of polymorphisms in this gene favors the intake, even without hunger since it affects the sensation of appetite and satiety. The risk variant predisposes to a higher intake of refined flours, sugar and sweets; Likewise, it favors an increase in the intake of calories and fat and there is a greater susceptibility to suffering from obesity than in individuals who do not have the risk variant.

Finally, mention that SNPs of the FTO gene show interaction with the composition of the diet, so that they can modulate the response to weight loss according to the type of diet that is followed, achieving better weight loss when a diet adapted to the variant that is possessed is proposed. The genetic information, based on the characterization of SNPs that we have, together with the nutrigenetic information, that is, the interaction that occurs between these SNPs and nutrients is one of the tools of personalized nutrition.

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Personalized nutrition

Advances in the knowledge of metabolism and its relationship with food, as well as the complex interactions between genotype and nutrients, but also their relationship and adaptation according to the lifestyle that we follow and with the environment that surrounds us, are aspects crucial to produce personalized nutritional recommendations that promote health and contribute to the well-being of persons.

True personalized nutrition aims to integrate scientific knowledge with the peculiarities of people (genetic and metabolic), adjusting to your preferences and lifestyle. Today this is possible thanks to mathematical tools, defined by experts in the field, which code these specifications and help prioritize the best options. In this way, it is possible to help when making decisions (type of diet, food pattern, preferred foods, ...), choosing the most appropriate at a certain time and adapting them as progress is made in the proposed objective (weight loss, increase in muscle mass, bone mass, ...) according to the individual singularity that each person presents.

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Oorenji: Precision Nutrition and Nutrigenetics

Oorenji is a personalized nutrition app designed so that, by using it, you can easily plan your personalized weekly menu knowing the recommended servings of each food.

Ooreji's artificial intelligence algorithm takes into account the general and biomedical variables of the user (age, gender, activity physical or physical state of the person) and genetic variables (this information is obtained through an analysis of a sample of saliva). You can download Oorenji in the official stores of Android and Manzana.

* Author: Dra. Francisca Serra Vich, Professor at the University of Nutrition and Food Science, has taught at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) since 1990. *