Nutrigenomics: How Food Affects Our Genes

How do health-gene relationships work? Your unique genetic variations effect how your body responds to nutrients in the diet, and nutrition can affect how your genes are expressed. Nutrigenomics, or how does food affect our genes? Over the course of human evolution, diet has profoundly molded human metabolic capacities and thus paved the way for the emergence of modern diseases. Numerous studies in humans, animals, and cell cultures have demonstrated that macronutrients, micronutrients, and naturally occurring bioreactive chemicals regulate gene expression in diverse ways. The recognition that nutrients have the ability to interact and modulate molecular mechanisms underlying an organism’s physiological functions has prompted a revolution in the field of nutrition. In this seminar, we will take a look at how health-gene relationships work, how everybody’s unique genetic variations change how our body responds to nutrients in the diet, and how nutrients can affect how our genes are expressed. Dr. Andrea Pryce received her baccalaureate degree from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and is a 2006 graduate of Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona. Dr. Pryce joined the faculty at Hawthorn University in April of 2014 and also serves on the faculty of Everglades University. She has recently joined the team at the Integrative Health Institute in Boca Raton, Florida. www.hawthornuniversity.org