Nutritional Genomics in Obesity Prevention and Treatment

Publisher Summary In the context of common obesity, the environmental challenges that have typically garnered the most attention for their potential interaction with genetic factors include dietary composition, smoking, and physical activity. While the term “interaction” may mean different things to different people, it is used here to describe a deviation from the additive or multiplicative effects of combining genotype and environment factors. This chapter focuses on diet–gene interactions as they pertain to the study of human obesity. When searching for the culprit underlying the dramatic increase in obesity, it is perhaps easiest to point the “finger of blame” at diet. Although our dietary habits and the composition of our foods have changed considerably over the past century, it is evident that not everyone in society who has experienced an energy surplus has gained weight similarly. So how can we explain the existence of these inter-individual differences? It is the field of nutritional genomics that has taken center stage in an attempt to answer this question. The term “nutritional genomics” is best considered as an umbrella term that describes two distinct but highly related disciplines: nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics; however, a quick search in published literature reveals that the abridged term “nutrigenomics” is also used as an umbrella term.