ABSTRACT
Nutrigenomics is the study of how constituents of the diet interact with genes, and their products, to alter phenotype and, conversely, how genes and their products metabolize these constituents into nutrients, antinutrients, and bioactive compounds. The data and results from nutrigenomics research are predicted to provide individuals with knowledge for optimizing nutrient intakes with the goal of preventing or delaying the onset of diseases. The research and application path to personalized nutrition faces the challenges of the chemical complexity of food, genetic heterogeneity of human populations, intricacies of biological processes, and the need for new methods of analyzing high-dimensional data sets generated by omics technologies. With the success of the Human Genome and HapMap projects, many scientific disciplines are beginning to develop best practices and share data sets for understanding biological processes. A number of large-scale collaborative programs focusing on nutrient-gene interactions have been initiated within the past 3 years. Nutrigenomic researchers individually, in centers, and in multi-institutional programs have recognized the need for developing best practices, fostering international collaborations, and sharing data sets. The scientific and humanitarian need for forming a network of networks and the initial steps on that pathway are reviewed in this chapter.
