Mike's blog is definitely worth reading - the recent post on salt is particularly pertinent. Often when talking about nutrition and genetics the question is "why do we need it"? We know how to eat well, just have a balanced diet, physical activity etc. Well there are at least two answers to that
1) King Cnut - the tide is coming in and nothing will stop it. Yes we have zillions of healthy eating gospels. We have more "weight loss" aids and foods than ever before, we have apps, web sites, gadgets and pills, all designed for healthy eating and weight loss, and yet...
2) As Mike's blog shows, the apparently "solid" evidence for nutritional dogma is quite shaky. I also discuss this in various posts on my blog (http://eurogene.blogspot.com)
There are quite a few well studied gene-environment interactions that can be exploited, there is evidence that genetic information improves motivation to change behaviour as well.
These are some of the aspects of the food4me project which we will be looking at in a proof of principle study (in 8 countries with about 1300 subjects). Agreed there is not a lot of detail yet on the site - it's a large project, many partners (and in all such EU projects there are some stray cats to herd) - but work is proceeding and we should be seeing some early publications soon, they are in the works
I stumbled on this project during my research: food4me.org
The complete mapping of the human genome sequence in 2000 introduced the possibility of individualised medicine, including personalised nutrition. During this time the field of “nutrigenomics” emerged, which examines the relationship between food and gene expression. Many were hopeful about the ability to plan diet recommendations based on an individual’s genetic profile.
However, the promise of personalised nutrition has failed to develop as a commercial service, and matching dietary advice to genetic profiles has proven difficult. Some companies offer genetic mapping and health reports, but these services are often based on inaccurate information.
There is a need to comprehensively analyse the opportunities and challenges in the field of personalised nutrition. In addition, the fundamental question remains, “how can we best use our current understanding of food, genes, and physical traits to design healthier diets tailored for each individual?”
To address these concerns, Food4Me has gathered an international group of experts to survey the current knowledge of personalised nutrition, and to explore the application of individualised nutrition advice. The Food4Me project will also investigate consumer attitudes and produce new scientific tools for implementation.