Genetics is the study of genes, which are molecules that are passed from parents to offspring. They are responsible for making the proteins in our bodies, and determining how similar or different we are from one another. “The topic of nutrigenomics is a branch of nutritional genomics, and is the study of the effects of foods and food constituents on gene expression”(Wikipedia). It studies specifically on the functional interactions of food, and its components with the genome at the molecular and cellular level, with the goal of using diets to prevent or treat diseases. Not only does it focus on functional interactions, but also combines the study of nutrition and genetics to discover the different ways people respond …show more content…
To start off, there are many ways on how nutrigenomics is useful in society today to improve the quality of life. One of the benefits is that it helps in preventing or treating diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and more. “Apart from chemical drug treatment, nutrigenomics also acts as a supporting element to recover more rapidly and prevent further disease damage”(Medscape). Additionally, with the development of nutrigenomics, it can save a person’s life considering it can prevent such diseases and thus reduces the cost of treatment. On the negative side, there can be several disadvantages to nutrigenomics. “Nutrigenomics researchers need long-term intervention trials to determine the causal relationship between nutrition and ways of prevention, as well as the outcome of disease which is time-consuming and costly”(Ion.ac.uk). Hence the spoken words, one of the most important disadvantages is how costly and time-consuming nutrigenomics can be. “Another disadvantage of nutrigenomics is ethical implication”(Ion.ac.uk). This means that ethical and legal implication may occur since nutrigenomics includes a genetic test from the use of samples from identified populations such as management of genetic information, consent and most importantly, medical uses of information from employers. Furthermore, nutrigenomics will have great potential benefit to medical science in …show more content…
Throughout the 20th century, nutritional science focused on finding vitamins, defining their use and preventing the diseases that they caused. As the problems of nutrition shifted to overnutrition and obesity, the focus of nutritional research changed rapidly.“As a result, nutrition research has shifted from epidemiology and physiology to molecular biology and genetics and nutrigenomics was born”(Wikipedia). This proves that nutrigenomics was developed from the research of the genetics listed above. Today, according to Appendix B, Nutrigenomics provides an increased understanding of how nutrition affects metabolic pathways. “Nutrigenomics is the new strategy in nutrition research that will lead to its development towards Nutritional Science 2.0”(Nutrigene.4t.com). It also shows the relation of genotype-phenotype to define an individual 's personal health. This means that since nutrigenomics was developed after the 20th century, it has been restoring people’s health such as preventing diet-related diseases to create a nutritious lifestyle. The further rapid change in technology and evolution of ideas was investigated by “The Age of Molecular Medicine” pioneered by Linus Pauling, Watson and Crick that described the structure of DNA in 1953(UKEssays). Before the Human Genome project was developed, scientists did not have the knowledge of how DNA was operated. Therefore, just