Take a tour of any large grocery store and it would seem we have “everything” we could want to eat, row after row of food offering something for everyone. After all, the average number of items carried in a supermarket last year was almost 39,000, according to the Food Marketing Institute.
But is having so many food options to choose from helping us get healthier?
As the latest Dietary Guidelines (2015-2020) for Americans reported, rates of chronic, diet-related diseases have risen due to our lifestyle behaviors, leading us to question if we’re making the healthiest choices.
Consider this sobering statistic — approximately half of adult Americans have one or more preventable chronic diseases, many related to poor eating habits and lack of physical activity. The costs to the economy and to us individually are staggering as public health care costs continue to rise.
In order to eat healthier, we have to start at the individual level. Consider that the emerging field of personalized medicine embraces the concept that medical treatment should be tailored to the individual characteristics, needs and preferences of each patient. Similarly , personalized nutrition espouses that what we eat should be tailored to who and what we are, and to the ways we absorb and metabolize our food.
Personal Food Arsenals
The idea that the same foods don’t do the same things for “every body” is garnering more attention. For example, a study published in the August 2016 International Journal of Epidemiology found that participants in personalized nutrition groups improved their eating patterns significantly compared to those in the control group, otherwise known as the one-size-fits-all group. Ultimately, that meant the people in the personalized group ate a healthier diet based on their own individual needs.
Online, more than 1,000 Europeans joined one of three groups for personalized nutrition based on:
- analysis of current diet
- diet and phenotype (body fat and blood markers)
- diet, phenotype and genotype (Researchers examined evidence of diet-gene interactions.)
Surprisingly, participants had marked improvements no matter which group they were in. Because all reporting and interaction took place on the web, researchers optimistically suggested that this type of approach could result in major public health benefits down the line if applied to general populations.
What Your Genes Mean
The authors of a 2011 review in Journal of Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics explain that better health outcomes can be achieved if nutritional requirements are customized for each individual. This would mean taking into consideration both his or her inherited and acquired genetic characteristics depending on life stage, dietary preferences and health status.
An early, key research paper in the journal of Personalized Medicine laid the groundwork for the basic concepts that confirm diet and genomes interact.  Your genome is your complete set of genetic instructions or DNA. DNA is also considered a “long molecule,” is composed of four different chemicals and is “read” by a technique called genome sequencing. Genomics studies all the DNA in an organism.
Personalized medicine involves the study of nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics. Think of nutrigenomics as the science of how food we eat affects genes and nutrigenetics as how genes affect that food.
Personal Choices Matter
The authors of the paper suggest that life stage, environment and lifestyle all have an impact. They also acknowledge the role in nutrition of personal preferences, individual experiences, sensory acuity, cultural habits and one’s personal economic situation. So personal choices include:
- Taste and flavor: These are most immediate and easily accessed by us.
- Cultural mores: Religion and philosophical values can wield a powerful force here: kosher, vegetarian or fasting, for example.
- Lifestyle: Athletes, for instance, typically need to eat before and after training.
- Lifestyle diseases: Certain foods with “adapted nutrient composition” may target conditions such as excess body weight or intestinal discomfort or choices such as sedentary behavior or high-fat diets.
- Inherited diseases: This group includes allergies or food intolerances, or inherited errors of inborn metabolism. An example is phenylketonurea, an amino acid metabolism disorder that increases levels of phenylalanine. A person with this disorder should eat fewer foods containing this amino acid.
- Genetic predispositions: Food is also personalized according to genotyping, the determination of your genetic make-up or genotype by examining your DNA sequence—determining the order of those chemical building blocks or bases that make up the DNA molecule.
The choices we make regarding what we eat are individual choices that should be reflective of our personal needs. There are many factors at play, but what’s most important is that you understand those factors and do your best to create a meal plan that works for you.
David HeberM.D., Ph.D., FACP, FASN – Chairman, Herbalife Nutrition Institute
Dr. David Heber is the chairman of the Herbalife Nutrition Institute (HNI), which promotes excellence in nutrition education for the public and scientific community and sponsors scientific symposia. The HNI Editorial Board is made up of key scientific opinion leaders from around the world in the fields of nutrition, exercise physiology, behavioral medicine and public health. Dr. Heber holds a degree in chemistry, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. in physiology from UCLA.* In his spare time, he enjoys golfing, reading and painting. Dr. Heber’s favorite Herbalife products are Formula 1 Healthy Meal Nutritional Shake Mix, Herbalife Personalized Protein Powder and the SKIN product line.
*The University of California does not endorse specific products or services as a matter of policy.