This video challenges the one-size-fits-all approach of the FDA's food pyramid, emphasizing that nutrition and weight loss should be personalized due to individual genetic differences. It introduces nutrigenomics and personalized nutrition, highlighting how they tailor diets to optimize health by understanding how food interacts with our genes, much like bees become either queens or workers based on their diet.

The video explores the promising field of nutrigenomics where diet choices can impact gene expression, influencing health outcomes and potentially averting chronic conditions. Examples like methionine's role in genetic switches and personalized diets for conditions like epilepsy and cancer showcase the practical applications of this scientific advancement. nutrigenomics leverages genetic information to offer customized dietary guidance, enhancing health and disease prevention in a way traditional diets don’t.

Main takeaways from the video:

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. nutrigenomics [noo-tri-jee-NO-miks] - (noun) - A field of research focusing on the relationship between nutrition and gene expression. - Synonyms: (genetic nutrition, nutritional genetics, personalized nutrition)

But the burgeoning field of nutrigenomics and personalized nutrition throws the idea of a diet working for anyone out the window.

2. genes [jeenz] - (noun) - Units of heredity made up of DNA which are responsible for guiding the physical manifestation and functionality in organisms. - Synonyms: (DNA, chromosomes, hereditary units)

What are the genes we want to turn off? What are the ones we want to turn on?

3. longevity [lon-JEV-i-tee] - (noun) - The duration of an individual's life. - Synonyms: (lifespan, life expectancy, durability)

Prescription to match longevity neutrogenomics really looks at us as the individual.

4. genome [JEE-nohm] - (noun) - The complete set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or organism. - Synonyms: (genetic code, DNA sequence, genetic makeup)

At the heart of neutrogenomics and precision nutrition is understanding the human genome.

5. methionine [meh-THY-o-neen] - (noun) - An amino acid important for many body functions and influencing genetic switches. - Synonyms: (amino acid, dietary amino, essential amino acid)

methionine can be used to add a little tag to the genetic switches or even to the genetic blueprint.

6. precision nutrition [pri-SIZH-uhn noo-TRISH-uhn] - (noun) - Nutritional advice tailored specifically to an individual's genetic makeup and needs. - Synonyms: (personalized nutrition, individualized diet, tailored nutrition)

At the heart of neutrogenomics and precision nutrition is understanding the human genome.

7. chronic conditions [KRON-ik kuhn-DISH-uhnz] - (noun) - Long-lasting health conditions that often require ongoing management beyond a single episode of illness. - Synonyms: (persistent illness, long-term disease, ongoing disorder)

Nutrition is not a one size fits all approach. Neither is weight loss, neither is prevention of chronic conditions.

8. amino acids [uh-MEE-noh AS-ids] - (noun) - Organic compounds that combine to form proteins, crucial for biological activities in the body. - Synonyms: (protein building blocks, peptides, organic compounds)

And so in addition to treating the cancer with the chemotherapeutics that are used for that cancer, the idea is that what if now we can deprive people of these amino acids in ways that essentially make the cancer cells more vulnerable? Take two cod fillets, drizzle of olive oil, jerk seasoning, give it a rub

9. biological processes [bi-oh-LOJ-i-kuhl PRAH-ses-es] - (noun) - Processes vital for a living organism to live and function. - Synonyms: (life processes, bodily functions, organic activities)

One of the most striking examples of how food can drive biological processes by interacting with the genome can be found, of all places, in a beehive.

10. chemotherapeutics [kee-mo-THER-uh-pyoo-tiks] - (noun) - Drugs used to treat cancer by inhibiting or killing cancerous cells. - Synonyms: (anticancer drugs, chemo drugs, cancer medication)

In addition to treating the cancer with the chemotherapeutics that are used for that cancer, the idea is that what if now we can deprive people of these amino acids in ways that essentially make the cancer cells more vulnerable?

How Dieting Could Reprogram Your DNA

This is the FDA's food pyramid. For decades, the predominant thought was that if you follow it, you would be quote unquote healthy. But does that pyramid really apply to everyone? Nutrition is not a one size fits all approach. Neither is weight loss, neither is prevention of chronic conditions. And that's because we are all so different.

Eating is one of the most complex social behaviors that we have. We have to do it, we love to do it. It's in our genes to want to eat. What we eat is extremely important for our wellness, for our well-being, for our longevity, and not just ours, but those of our families too. And so we want to make sure that the food choices that we make every day support health, rather than put us on a path to disease.

There are hundreds of diets to choose from, from Atkins to keto to Paleo. But the burgeoning field of nutrigenomics and personalized nutrition throws the idea of a diet working for anyone out the window. Scientifically, there is really nothing more intimate than our connection with food and how it can affect our genes. The idea of personalized nutrition is that we can discover what diet works best for our genes.

I often tell my patients that your genes are not your destiny, but they are your predisposition. Now we're delving a little further and looking at our actual genetics. What were we born with? What are the genes we were born with? What are the genes we want to turn off? What are the ones we want to turn on? How do we become a place where we know our kids are going to grow up and have an easier time knowing how to structure their lifestyle?

Prescription to match longevity nutrigenomics really looks at us as the individual. At the heart of nutrigenomics and precision nutrition is understanding the human genome. Genetically speaking, we are very similar. But if we look at those little outliers outside of where we are similar, we have so many things that make us different. Depending on which variants we carry of these genes, what flavors of the genes we carry, they might affect the way our brain, our body, our cells interact with different nutrients.

And those nutrients we consume can switch certain genes on or off. So we have about 25,000 genes, but in our brain cells, a set of genes are on and a set of genes are off the genome. And looking at our DNA is really kind of what puts us aside from someone else and says, gosh, I'm more at risk for this or I would do better lifting weights than I would running a marathon. So that's where our DNA plays a role.

So the genetic switches are very similar to the switches of light in your room that can control how much light you have, whether it's on or off or whether it's dial up or down. Nutrients essentially help the molecular machinery that can make these genetic switches easier or harder to turn on or off.

And is there a possibility, say, of giving people foods that are going to affect those favorably? One of the most striking examples of how food can drive biological processes by interacting with the genome can be found, of all places, in a beehive.

When we usually think of food, we think mostly about its calories and nutrient content. But there is this whole other side of food that is much more intimately connected with our biology, and that is the ability of nutrients to essentially inform and shape our genome, the blueprint that drives all life. There are two kinds of bees, queen bees and worker bees. Queen bees give rise to the entire colony. Queen bees are fertile, they give rise to every other bee in the colony, and they live for years.

On the other hand, worker bees are sterile. They don't have any offspring, and they only live for a few weeks. What you might not know is that actually worker bees and the queen bee are genetically identical organisms. What shapes them into these two completely different life forms is actually the food they eat. The queen bee, when she's a larva, she feeds on this food called royal jelly.

On the other hand, the worker bees mostly eat pollen, and this food that they get when they're developing determines their physiology and their anatomy for the rest of their lives. Obviously, humans are not bees, but the amino acid methionine influences genetic dials in humans and mice, just like royal jelly does with bees. methionine can be used to add a little tag to the genetic switches or even to the genetic blueprint.

And what this tag does, essentially, it makes it harder for the genes to be turned on and harder for the genetic switches to be accessed. And so it's very important to have a diet where we have a balanced level on methionine so that the genetic switches that ought to be off remain off.

Ultimately, this information hinges on dietitians and doctors applying this information to the real world. I never want my patient to look at a gene and say, well, I have the gene, so I might as well just enjoy life. Instead, I want them to look at it and say, I have the gene. What can I know from a nutrigenomics perspective to alter my lifestyle so that this gene doesn't rear its ugly head in terms of prevention of chronic conditions, in terms of weight management.

It's really taking our general sense and knowledge of the evidence based approaches to provide a diet that makes sense. Some individuals have genetics that make them more prone to be deficient in folate or in B12.

So we have to really focus on those two when we're sitting face to face with a client or a patient and saying, okay, listen. I don't think you're getting enough folate, and you are genetically predisposed to not being able to absorb enough of it. So let's talk about how we get that in our diet. And diets based off genetic information could lead to disease prevention that we haven't seen before.

We know that people that have a type of untreatable epilepsy can actually live a relatively good life by eating a ketogenic diet. This idea that we can couple a certain diet to treat a disease is now one of the main avenues of investigation for the treatment of cancer.

There are many cancers that are caused by diet, right? For example, for colon cancer, scientists know that the amino acid serine is very important. And so in addition to treating the cancer with the chemotherapeutics that are used for that cancer, the idea is that what if now we can deprive people of these amino acids in ways that essentially make the cancer cells more vulnerable?

nutrigenomics and precision nutrition is one of those rare scientific fields that overlaps with the Instagram-friendly wellness industry. There is a lot of interest in this idea of personalized nutrition, and especially how accessible it is to the public. You can go on Google and type personalized nutrition or diet and genes, and you will find dozens of different companies that offer this nutrition precision tests.

One of those companies is routine founded to get customers to take vitamins more efficiently. I'm Rachel Sanders. I'm CEO and co-founder of routine. Routine is a company that focuses on optimizing health and human performance with precision nutrition.

Our members come to us because they're looking for really focusing on total body health and improving in areas more common health conditions like stress, fatigue, brain fog, immune health support, mood balance, and more. They really come to us because we have a tailored approach and we create tailored products specific to their individual needs and individual biology.

While many studies have found vitamins and supplements don't do much to improve overall health, routine claims that their personalized tests, stemming from sciences like nutrigenomics, make their supplements different. The supplement industry in general has a lot of skeptics. We don't use kind of new ingredients with very little research behind them.

Trying to make claims or have specific results based on specific interventions is definitely difficult. But routine claims, their personalized tests see positive results. Over 80% of our members see improvement in at least one health metric. Things like improvement in energy levels, lower stress, as well as that immune sleep.

But even with the claims from routine, as well as dozens of other personalized nutrition companies, the science still has a long way to go. The thing about longevity is that it takes a long time to study. That's why we call it longevity. When it comes to nutrigenomics, we are learning every day.

When we started doing nutrigenomics, we had about seven genes that we were going over with patients. Now we have about 70. Some people really believe that once we can map the entirety of food nutrient interactions and map them in a way that's inclusive of different sexes, ethnicities, lifestyles, then we can arrive at this personalized, precise nutrition.

But on the other hand, this question is so complicated that it might take a very long time for us to get the answer. Ultimately, nutrigenomics isn't going anywhere, and it may be the way forward with how we think about the food we eat.

People are no longer interested in diets. They're interested in dietary patterns that speak more to who they are and embrace who they are personally and genetically. Sociologically, it's hard to argue against our own genetics in terms of determining what's the best dietary approach for us. People are looking for what works. They want to live longer, but people don't want to just live longer anymore. They want to live.

Nutrition, Personalized Nutrition, Nutrigenomics, Science, Technology, Innovation, Bloomberg Originals