Nutrigenetics could one day lead to reconsideration of dietary recommendations to adapt them to the needs of each of us.
How to stay healthy? Rule # 1: adopt a balanced diet. Monitor its supply of vitamins and minerals to avoid deficiencies and be sure not to Miss essential nutrients to the proper functioning of his body.
The birth of predictive medicine
The Nutrigenetics is the so-called preventive medicine, a concept the Nobel Prize of medicine Jean Dausset in 1980: "for centuries medicine tried to treat and today its ultimate goal is to prevent rather than cure. But to prevent, it is necessary to predict; This is why predictive medicine, first stage of preventive medicine, is born.
Problem: the optimal diet is not the same for everyone. The diet that suits your neighbor is not necessarily suitable for your organization. Because we do not all have the same genetic profile, we do not all have the same metabolism nor the same dietary needs. This is the principle of the Nutrigenetics. Nutrigenetics may help prevent: cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and high cholesterol.
We are all the result of interactions between genes and environment, explains Dr. Helena Baranova, organizer in France of the first inter-university degree of Predictive Medicine. The goal is to adapt to better the environment of each genetic susceptibilities that there is behind". That fall well: programme international human genome sequencing was completed successfully in 2003 and identified nearly 30,000 genes. "By knowing your genetic profile, you can discover the metabolic feature of your organization and adapt your environment and therefore your diet accordingly, explains the specialist. It's smart prevention.
Genetics is an amazing tool in the concept of personalized prevention, provided you apprehend correctly. "It is essential to differentiate genetics used in predictive medicine of the received ideas that people have on this discipline," says Dr. Baranova. According to researcher genetic analyses are often synonymous with disease in the mind of the public. "It absolutely distinguish the logic of monogenic diseases of personalized prevention." A monogenic disease is a disease linked to a single gene. This is for example the case of cystic fibrosis: If you are carrying two copies of the gene for this disease, then you'll be inevitably achieved cystic fibrosis. But prevention approach is totally different. To start not working on isolated genes but on combinations of genes that need to systematically analyze the interactions. Furthermore we work on diseases induced by the environment, which explains that it does not speak of absolute risk or diagnosis. We speak rather of predictive tests and risk related so always flexible. "Moreover in consultation we try to banish the 'risk' and 'predisposition' terms patients can too easily perceive as inevitable.
This genetic tool is inextricably linked to an analysis of the way of life of the patient and his environment. "Besides the fact to detect a gene for susceptibility to disease in a patient does absolutely not mean that will develop the disease", said the specialist. It just means that it is a possibility, but if it takes into account in a personalized and comprehensive support, can adapt the environment to avoid sometimes claimed this disease".
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