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A genetic perspective on nutritional profiles: do we still need them?
Dario Gregori1, Francesca Foltran, Elvira Verduci
1Laboratories of Epidemiological Methods and Biostatistics, Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, University of Padua, Padua, Italy. dario.gregori@unipd.it
Journal of Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics
|March 25, 2011
Summary
Nutrigenetic tests offer personalized dietary advice, but show poor agreement with established nutrient profiling schemes. Further research is needed to reconcile these differences for accurate nutritional guidance.
Area of Science:
- Nutritional Genomics
- Personalized Nutrition
- Dietary Assessment
Background:
- Nutritional genomics enables personalized dietary advice based on individual genetic profiles.
- Nutrigenetic tests identify suitable and unsuitable foods for individuals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare personalized dietary advice from a nutrigenetic test with two nutrient profiling (NP) schemes: USA Health Claims (USAHC) and US Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).
- To assess the agreement between nutrigenomic recommendations and NP schemes for 50 common foods among Italian children.
Main Methods:
- Recruited 24 Italian children (12 normal-weight, 12 overweight) for nutrigenetic testing using the G-Diet® Nutrigenomic Kit.
- Analyzed variants in 20 genes to formulate personalized dietary advice.
- Calculated agreement using Cohen's kappa statistic between NP schemes and nutrigenomic profiles.
Main Results:
- Very poor overall agreement between USAHC and CSPI nutrient profiling schemes (Cohen's κ=0.66).
- Agreement between nutrigenomic indications and USAHC ranged from 0.43 to 0.74.
- Agreement between nutrigenomic indications and CSPI ranged from 0.29 to 0.80.
Conclusions:
- Significant disagreement exists in food classification between different nutrient profiling schemes.
- Inconsistencies between nutrigenetic tests and NP schemes highlight the need for further research.
- Standardization and validation are crucial for reliable personalized nutrition recommendations.
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