Chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease are major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide with increasing prevalence in all age groups, genders, and ethnicities. Emerging evidence suggests that precision nutrition plays a pivotal role in the prevention and management of chronic diseases and has been recognized as a key focus for the next ten years of health research. Currently, one of the major challenges in precision nutrition is the valid and reliable assessment of foods and nutrients intake, especially whole foods (e.g., fermented foods) and macromolecules (e.g., polysaccharides), as well as their impact on host health and disease. Strong evidence has supported that the biomarkers (e.g., metabolites) as an intermediate bridge can effectively link precision nutrition and chronic diseases, which can contribute to objectively assessing food consumption and precisely determining the biological effects of complex foods (ingredients). However, still we are at the very beginning to understand how precision nutrition regulates biomarkers to prevent chronic diseases with individual differences. The molecular mechanisms of key biomarkers in chronic diseases have not been fully elucidated and extensive studies are crucially warranted.
Since 1938 and 1941, nutrient intake recommendations have been issued to the public in Canada and the United States, respectively. Currently defined as the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs), these values are a set of standards established by consensus committees under the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and used for planning and assessing diets of apparently healthy individuals and groups. In 2015, a multidisciplinary working group sponsored by the Canadian and U.S. government DRI steering committees convened to identify key scientific challenges encountered in the use of chronic disease endpoints to establish DRI values. Their report, Options for Basing Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) on Chronic Disease: Report from a Joint US-/Canadian-Sponsored Working Group, outlined and proposed ways to address conceptual and methodological challenges related to the work of future DRI Committees. This report assesses the options presented in the previous report and determines guiding principles for including chronic disease endpoints for food substances that will be used by future National Academies committees in establishing DRIs.
“Personalised Nutrition” represents any initiative that attempts to provide tailor-made healthy eating advice based on the nutritional needs of each individual, as these are dictated by the individual’s behaviour, phenotype and/or genotype, and their interactions. This Special Issue of Nutrients is dedicated to the development, implementation and assessment of the effectiveness of evidence-based “Personalised Nutrition” strategies. In this regard, a selection of reviews and original research manuscripts will bring together the latest evidence on how lifestyle habits, physiology, nutraceuticals, gut microbiome and genetics can be integrated into nutritional solutions, specific to the needs of each individual, for maintaining health and preventing diseases.
A paradigm-shifting diet book that explains why one-size-fits-all diets don't work and helps readers customize their diet to lose weight and improve health. There are certain things we take as universal truths when it comes to dieting and health: kale is good; ice cream is bad. Until now. When Drs. Segal and Elinav published their groundbreaking research on personalized nutrition, it created a media frenzy. They had proved that individuals react differently to the same foods-a food that might be healthy for one person is unhealthy for another. In one stroke, they made all universal diet programs obsolete. The Personalized Diet helps readers understand the fascinating science behind their work, gives them the tools to create an individualized diet and lifestyle plan (based on their reactions to favorite foods) and puts them on the path to losing weight, feeling good, and preventing disease by eating in the way that's right for them.
On December 5, 2017, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hosted a public workshop titled Nutrigenomics and the Future of Nutrition in Washington, DC, to review current knowledge in the field of nutrigenomics as it relates to nutrition. Workshop participants explored the influence of genetic and epigenetic expression on nutritional status and the potential impact of personalized nutrition on health maintenance and chronic disease prevention. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.
Many people naturally assume that the claims made for foods and nutritional supplements have the same degree of scientific grounding as those for medication, but that is not always the case. The IOM recommends that the FDA adopt a consistent scientific framework for biomarker evaluation in order to achieve a rigorous and transparent process.
For more than two decades, the practice of risk assessment has been applied to human public health issues, and policy makers have used the results of risk assessments in their decision-making process. Approaches for risk assessment have been developed for nonnutrients such as drugs, food additives, and pesticides, but approaches for risk assessment have received less attention in the nutrition area. Some aspects of the risk assessment approach used for nonnutrients are applicable to the assessment of risks related to nutrition. The overall approach, however, must be adapted and modified to take into account the unique aspects of nutrients, including the fact that both high and low nutrient intakes are associated with risk. Experience with the application of a risk assessment process to the setting of upper levels of intake for essential nutrients, for example, has uncovered a number of challenges. Adapting and developing risk assessment strategies for application in nutrition science could lead to improved approaches to the development of dietary and nutritional recommendations and thus is a topic of considerable interest. One nonscientific but overall challenge to nutritional risk assessment relates to increasing and improving communication among experts from key disciplines in ways that could inform the nutritional risk assessment process. Among these key disciplines are nutrition, toxicology, dietary exposure assessment, economics, risk analysis, and epidemiology. How can the perspectives and methods of these diverse fields be brought together to develop more effective approaches for quantitative nutritional risk assessment? How can they be applied to a spectrum of topics related to food and nutrition-micronutrients, macronutrients, dietary supplements, whole foods, food groups, and dietary patterns? How can they help overcome the data challenges that confront nutritional risk assessors? As a step toward improving the communication and sharing methods and information across disciplines, members of the Interagency Risk Assessment Consortium, the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, the Institute of Medicine's Food Forum, and the International Life Sciences Institute planned the Nutritional Risk Assessment Workshop. The workshop was held on February 28 and March 1, 2007, in Washington, D.C. This workshop, which was envisioned as one in a series, focused on opening a dialogue to explore the unique questions and challenges faced by nutritionists and the potential use of risk assessment methodologies to answer them. Nutritional Risk Assessment : Perspectives, Methods, and Data Challenges, Workshop Summary summarizes the happenings of this workshop.
Precision Nutrition: The Science and Promise of Personalized Nutrition and Health organizes and integrates information on the diverse special areas of scientific expertise involved in Precision Nutrition in order to inform health professionals and inspire researchers to advance this field while applying the general principles into health care and medical research now. Broken into three sections, this book addresses the fundamentals of precision nutrition, applications of precision nutrition in health and disease, and the future directions of precision nutrition. Nutrition scientists, geneticists, physicians, dietitians, postdoctoral fellows, and epidemiologists seeking to understand Precision Nutrition will benefit from this timely reference. . - Applies precision nutrition to diet and lifestyle conditions, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer - Identifies future aspects of precision nutrition utilizing AI, machine learning and superfast computers - Outlines promising areas of research
This book provides an overview on current trends and developments in precision nutrition and personalized health preservation, focussing on a field which is undergoing rapid change. Today, personalized strategies contrast generally accepted guidelines for specified groups and improved health and disease markers are shifting health care toward preventive strategies. At the same time, advances in food additives, nutraceuticals, functional, and medical foods are breaking down the traditional domains of health-related disciplines. This book aims to provide an overview on these processes, discusses arising problems, and provides an outlook on the future of personalized health care and the role of precision nutrition. It covers preliminary thoughts on what has been achieved and focusses on developments in the area of metabolic diseases, aging, and neurology. The book is intended as a primer in the field of precision nutrition and is aimed at researchers, clinicians, and students in health-related disciplines, who would like to get insights into current trends and developments in this area
The Encyclopedia of Foods: A Guide to Healthy Nutrition is a definitive resource for what to eat for maximum health as detailed by medical and nutritional experts. This book makes the connection between health, disease, and the food we eat. The Encyclopedia describes more than 140 foods, providing information on their history, nutrient content, and medical uses. The Encyclopedia also describes the "fit kitchen", including the latest in food safety, equipment and utensils for preparing fit foods, and ways to modify favorite recipes to ensure health and taste. - Details healthy eating guidelines based on the RDA food pyramid - Provides scientific basis and knowledge for specific recommendations - Beautifully illustrated - Extensive list of reliable nutrition resources - Describes the fit kitchen from the latest in food safety to equipment and utensils for preparing fit foods to ways to modify favorite recipes to ensure health and taste
