Nutrition, Genetics and Health
Gene Based Nutrition - Nutrigenomics Diet
Why is the Study of Nutrition, Genetics and Health Advancing So Rapidly?
The Human Genome project was just completed in 2003, which created a new field of study called nutrigenomics or gene based nutrition. Nutrigenomics is the study of the relationship between nutrition, genetics and health. The project also led to a related field that studies the relationship between exercise, genetics and health. This remarkable human genome mapping project, which took 13 years and was reported to have cost $3 billion, identified the approximately 30,000 genes present in the human body. This new knowledge has provided Dr. Chilton and his research colleagues throughout the world a whole new set of tools to discover how specific lifestyle approaches based on the latest nutrigenomics understandings of the relationship between our nutrition, genetics and health can influence our genes and our health to empower us to live richer and more fulfilling lives.
Master Regulator Genes and Inflammation
The Nutrition, Genetics and Health Connection
The science of nutrigenomics is in its early days. We have only been building our understanding about the relationship between nutrition, genetics and health for less than a decade. Through his own labs and his role as Director of the National Institutes of Health supported Center for Botanical Lipids, Dr. Chilton is recognized as a world-leader in understanding chronic inflammatory diseases and the specific genes that control inflammation.
We know now that about 2,000 genes, of the approximately 30,000 in your body, controlling the body's inflammatory and immune system responses. A large proportion of these genes are under the direction of master health regulators. Master Regulators are key “genetic control centers” that act as central levers steering an array of other genes that govern a number of essential processes in the body. These master health regulators are working in one direction when you fall prey to obesity and many of the diseases of aging, and in another direction when you’re enjoying the prime of your life. Through recent nutrigenomics advances in our understanding of the relationship between nutrition, genetics and health, we are learning how these regulators, in turn, are switched on and off by bioactives, specific compounds that are present in food and that are taken in specific dosages and combinations over a set period of time.
A Nutrigenomics Diet Approach to Nutrition, Genetics and Health
So you can greatly improve your health outlook by changing certain environmental factors to which you expose your body—specifically, the right types and amounts of certain bioactives in your diet, and the right types of exercise. These bioactives - especially polyphenols, fiber and omegas are a major focus of the Gene Smart Anti Inflammatory Diet & Exercise Program. In fact, Dr. Chilton believes that getting the right types and levels of Omega 3s and Omega 6s in your diet every day is so critical that we pioneered the first Omega 3 Home Blood Test that lets you check your Omega-3 Index and Omega 6 to Omega 3 Ratio so you can know whether you are consumng the right types and amounts for your body.
In other words, your genes aren’t a life sentence. There are quantifiable rewards for doing the best you can with what you’ve been given by taking advantage of our new understanding of gene-based nutrition and the relationship between nutrition, genetics and health. As long as you’re careful not to trigger the genes leading to overweight and premature aging, you can keep your weight and your health on track.
