ABSTRACT
In considering the potential importance of the ever-faster developing field of genomics for sports, one might be tempted to think immediately of selecting for traits that are directly relevant to sporting performance. This possibility gives rise to a number of interesting philosophical issues, but they are not the subject of this discussion. Our genetic inheritance is, as we know, crucially dependent on environment. The drive to train budding young sportspersons from a very early age is testament to the importance of environmental influences. An enormously significant dimension to the range of environmental influence is diet. Indeed, one of the purported benefits of the setting up of large population databases such as the UK Biobank is to study gene-environment interactions including the interrelationship between genetic and dietary influences (see, for example, POST, 2002).
