NUTRIGENOMICS: Your genes, diet and health.
Losing weight is not an easy feat and if you’ve struggled with weight loss, you’d completely agree. The weight loss market is currently saturated with several dietary interventions promising strongly to get you down a few dress sizes by following their plans. Painfully sticking to these diets faithfully for weeks or even months without your scale budging can be frustrating. When it comes to following diets, understanding that ‘one size fits all’ is a myth would do you a world of good. Due to our different genes,the response to these diets may differ across individuals. While some people successfully lose weight, others might gain a few more pounds on the same diet. Some people may also increase their risk of developing some diseases due to the same diet. The differences in responses is mostly because of our genetic make-up. The understanding of the interaction between genes, diet and your health is known as nutrigenomics.
Nutrigenomics is explained as the effect of diet and genes interaction on the expressed phenotype. This is basically how your diet would impact your health positively or negatively. Depending on your genetic makeup as determined by DNA test, a diet plan can be tailored to suit your genetic needs to produce the desired outcome and minimise the risk of developing a disease such as diabetes or even heart conditions. Some of these diets that encourage the consumption of certain food groups may put you at risk of developing a disease like diabetes, hypertension or even heart diseases especially if you are genetically predisposed to developing the disease.
Several studies have shown that the complex interactions between your genes and your diet can aid the progression or heighten the severity of many chronic diseases. For instance, a while ago I had decided to give the ‘ketogenic diet’ a go as I had heard great reviews about the diet, and of course I was interested in losing the extra pounds I had gained over the Christmas holiday. The ketogenic diet is basically a no carb and high fat diet and I was thrilled to share my own amazing experience. However, this experience wasn’t anything I had bargained for, I had uncomfortable symptoms and my cholesterol levels had heightened. Upon having a home DNA Test, I realised that I had genes that predisposed me to developing high bad cholesterol levels. With this knowledge about my genes, I know enough to not indulge in high fat diet plans that would increase my risk of developing any chronic heart disease.
By taking a DNA test for your nutritional needs, you have a better understanding of how well you metabolise certain food products, food intolerances and take control of how much of such products you can consume without any adverse effect. By deeply digging into your genes, you can understand how much vitamins, carbohydrate, proteins or even fat you need to consume to be at your healthiest.
Take control of your body and weight management by taking a simple home genetic testing test that provides detailed information and advice on the best way to get to your healthiest weight.
