Genetics & Epigenetics

The Institute of Medicine convened a workshop in 2009 to review the state of the various domains of nutritional genomics research and policy and to provide guidance for further development and translation of this knowledge into nutrition practice and policy. Nutritional genomics holds the promise to revolutionize both clinical and public health nutrition practice and facilitate the establishment of

(a) genome-informed nutrient and food-based dietary guidelines for disease prevention and healthful aging,

(b) individualized medical nutrition therapy for disease man­agement, and

(c) better targeted public health nutrition interventions (including micro-nutrient fortification and supplementation) that maximize benefit and minimize adverse outcomes within genetically diverse human pop­ulations.

As the field of nutritional genomics matures, which will include filling fundamental gaps in knowledge of nutrient–genome interactions in health and disease and demonstrating the potential benefits of customizing nutrition prescriptions based on genetics, registered die­titians will be faced with the opportunity of making ge­netically driven dietary recommendations aimed at im­proving human health.

J Am Diet Assoc. 2008;108:1480-1487.