Harnessing Nutrigenomics: Development of web-based communication, databases, resources, and tools

Bariatric Surgery and Precision Nutrition

This review provides a literature overview of new findings relating nutritional genomics and bariatric surgery. It also describes the importance of nutritional genomics concepts in personalized bariatric management. It includes a discussion of the potential role bariatric surgery plays in altering the three pillars of nutritional genomics: nutrigenetics, nutrigenomics, and epigenetics. We present studies that show the effect of each patient's genetic and epigenetic variables on the response to surgical weight loss treatment. We include investigations that demonstrate the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms with obesity phenotypes and their influence on weight loss after bariatric surgery. We also present reports on how significant weight loss induced by bariatric surgery impacts telomere length, and we discuss studies on the existence of an epigenetic signature associated with surgery outcomes and specific gene methylation profile, which may help to predict weight loss after a surgical procedure. Finally, we show articles which evidence that bariatric surgery may affect expression of numerous genes involved in different metabolic pathways and consequently induce functional and taxonomic changes in gut microbial communities. The role nutritional genomics plays in responses to weight loss after bariatric surgery is evident. Better understanding of the molecular pathways involved in this process is necessary for successful weight management and maintenance.

Consensus statement understanding health and malnutrition through a systems approach: the ENOUGH program for early life

Nutrition research, like most biomedical disciplines, adopted and often uses experimental approaches based on Beadle and Tatum's one gene-one polypeptide hypothesis, thereby reducing biological processes to single reactions or pathways. Systems thinking is needed to understand the complexity of health and disease processes requiring measurements of physiological processes, as well as environmental and social factors, which may alter the expression of genetic information. Analysis of physiological processes with omics technologies to assess systems' responses has only become available over the past decade and remains costly. Studies of environmental and social conditions known to alter health are often not connected to biomedical research. While these facts are widely accepted, developing and conducting comprehensive research programs for health are often beyond financial and human resources of single research groups. We propose a new research program on essential nutrients for optimal underpinning of growth and health (ENOUGH) that will use systems approaches with more comprehensive measurements and biostatistical analysis of the many biological and environmental factors that influence undernutrition. Creating a knowledge base for nutrition and health is a necessary first step toward developing solutions targeted to different populations in diverse social and physical environments for the two billion undernourished people in developed and developing economies.

Looking back into the future: 30 years of metabolomics at TNO

Metabolites have played an essential role in our understanding of life, health, and disease for thousands of years. This domain became much more important after the concept of metabolism was discovered. In the 1950s, mass spectrometry was coupled to chromatography and made the technique more application-oriented and allowed the development of new profiling technologies. Since 1980, TNO has performed system-based metabolic profiling of body fluids, and combined with pattern recognition has led to many discoveries and contributed to the field known as metabolomics and systems biology. This review describes the development of related concepts and applications at TNO in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, nutritional, and microbiological fields, and provides an outlook for the future.

The potential role of nutritional genomics tools in validating high health foods for cancer control: broccoli as example

Nutritional genomics reflects gene/nutrient interactions, utilising high-throughput genomic tools in nutrition research. The field also considers the contribution of individual genotypes to wellness and the risk of chronic disease (nutrigenetics), and how such genetic predisposition may be modified by appropriate diets. For example, high consumption of brassicaceous vegetables, including broccoli, has regularly associated with low cancer risk. Bioactive chemicals in broccoli include glucosinolates, plant pigments including kaempferol, quercetin, lutein and carotenoids, various vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Cancer prevention is hypothesised to act through various mechanisms including modulation of xenobiotic metabolising enzymes, NF-E2 p45-related factor-2 (Nrf2)-mediated stress-response mechanisms, and protection against genomic instability. Broccoli and broccoli extracts also regulate the progression of cancer through anti-inflammatory effects, effects on signal transduction, epigenetic effects and modulation of the colonic microflora. Human intervention studies with broccoli and related foods, using standard biomarker methodologies, reveal part of a complex picture. Nutrigenomic approaches, especially transcriptomics, enable simultaneous study of various signalling pathways and networks. Phenotypic, genetic and/or metabolic stratification may identify individuals most likely to respond positively to foods or diets. Jointly, these technologies can provide proof of human efficacy, and may be essential to ensure effective market transfer and uptake of broccoli and related foods.

Web-enabled and improved software tools and data are needed to measure nutrient intakes and physical activity for personalized health research

Food intake, physical activity (PA), and genetic makeup each affect health and each factor influences the impact of the other 2 factors. Nutrigenomics describes interactions between genes and environment. Knowledge about the interplay between environment and genetics would be improved if experimental designs included measures of nutrient intake and PA. Lack of familiarity about how to analyze environmental variables and ease of access to tools and measurement instruments are 2 deterrents to these combined studies. This article describes the state of the art for measuring food intake and PA to encourage researchers to make their tools better known and more available to workers in other fields. Information presented was discussed during a workshop on this topic sponsored by the USDA, NIH, and FDA in the spring of 2009.

Risk assessment and communication tools for genotype associations with multifactorial phenotypes: the concept of "edge effect" and cultivating an ethical bridge between omics innovations and society

Applications of omics technologies in the postgenomics era swiftly expanded from rare monogenic disorders to multifactorial common complex diseases, pharmacogenomics, and personalized medicine. Already, there are signposts indicative of further omics technology investment in nutritional sciences (nutrigenomics), environmental health/ecology (ecogenomics), and agriculture (agrigenomics). Genotype-phenotype association studies are a centerpiece of translational research in omics science. Yet scientific and ethical standards and ways to assess and communicate risk information obtained from association studies have been neglected to date. This is a significant gap because association studies decisively influence which genetic loci become genetic tests in the clinic or products in the genetic test marketplace. A growing challenge concerns the interpretation of large overlap typically observed in distribution of quantitative traits in a genetic association study with a polygenic/multifactorial phenotype. To remedy the shortage of risk assessment and communication tools for association studies, this paper presents the concept of edge effect. That is, the shift in population edges of a multifactorial quantitative phenotype is a more sensitive measure (than population averages) to gauge the population level impact and by extension, policy significance of an omics marker. Empirical application of the edge effect concept is illustrated using an original analysis of warfarin pharmacogenomics and the VKORC1 genetic variation in a Brazilian population sample. These edge effect analyses are examined in relation to regulatory guidance development for association studies. We explain that omics science transcends the conventional laboratory bench space and includes a highly heterogeneous cast of stakeholders in society who have a plurality of interests that are often in conflict. Hence, communication of risk information in diagnostic medicine also demands attention to processes involved in production of knowledge and human values embedded in scientific practice, for example, why, how, by whom, and to what ends association studies are conducted, and standards are developed (or not). To ensure sustainability of omics innovations and forecast their trajectory, we need interventions to bridge the gap between omics laboratory and society. Appreciation of scholarship in history of omics science is one remedy to responsibly learn from the past to ensure a sustainable future in omics fields, both emerging (nutrigenomics, ecogenomics), and those that are more established (pharmacogenomics). Another measure to build public trust and sustainability of omics fields could be legislative initiatives to create a multidisciplinary oversight body, at arm's length from conflict of interests, to carry out independent, impartial, and transparent innovation analyses and prospective technology assessment.

The role of the vgf gene and VGF-derived peptides in nutrition and metabolism

Energy homeostasis is a complex physiological function coordinated at multiple levels. The issue of genetic regulation of nutrition and metabolism is attracting increasing interest and new energy homeostasis-regulatory genes are continuously identified. Among these genes, vgf is gaining increasing interest following two observations: (1) VGF-/- mice have a lean and hypermetabolic phenotype; (2) the first VGF-derived peptide involved in energy homeostasis, named TLQP-21, has been identified. The aim of this review will be to discuss the role of the vgf gene and VGF derived peptides in metabolic and nutritional functions. In particular we will: (1) provide a brief overview on the central systems regulating energy homeostasis and nutrition particularly focusing on the melanocortin system; (2) introduce the structure and molecular characteristic of vgf; (3) describe the phenotype of VGF deficient mice; (4) present recent data on the metabolic role of VGF-derived peptides, particularly focusing on one peptide named TLQP-21.

Nutrigenomics--2006 update

The Human Genome and HapMap projects have provided the tools and information that will aid in understanding how nutrients alter the expression of an individual's genetic information and why individuals differ in metabolism of foods at the molecular level. The study of how genes and gene products interact with dietary chemicals to alter phenotype and, conversely, how genes and their products metabolize nutrients is called nutritional genomics or "nutrigenomics." This new field has received considerable attention in the last 6 years, most of which has been on the promise rather than on scientific results from nutrigenomic experiments. Funding for nutrigenomics research focused primarily on individual laboratory projects in the 1990s and early 2000s. The novelty of combining nutrition and genetics limited that funding to a relatively small number of laboratories. Only in the past 3 years have centers been funded to foster collaborations and conduct large-scale projects that are studying nutrient-gene interactions. The increase in interest and funding is beginning to generate the critical mass to realize the promise of nutritional genomics.