Geschatte leestijd: 3 minutenNational guidelines for healthy eating are a standard recommendation. However, people are not standard. Based on our genes, different people can react differently to a diet. This fact is once again confirmed by researchers from Texas.
DNA and Diet
Not too long ago, I wrote about the ‘DNA diet’, a diet customized to your specific genes. I called it ‘future music’, despite the fact that several providers are already willing to accept a few hundred euros to determine your personalized nutritional needs. For a more detailed explanation of the personal, genetically determined response to a diet, I refer you to that previous article on Nutrigenetics. For now, I suffice with the remark that we need to gain more insight into the different genes and their effects to fully and practically utilize this.
However, this does not detract from the fact that this approach could ultimately prove to be very valuable. In addition to the previously discussed studies, this is now also evident from research by Texas A&M College of Medicine [1].
Because it is known that people can react very differently to different diets, the researchers wanted to examine the influence of genetics. For this, they used four different types of mice. The mice in the same group were genetically almost identical. However, the differences between the groups were comparable to the difference between two unrelated people.
- ‘American diet’.
- Mediterranean diet
- Japanese diet
- Ketogenic diet
- Control diet (standard commercial feed)
The researchers were particularly interested in the effect of the different diets on indicators of metabolic syndrome, a collection of weight-related complaints (including fatty liver, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and cholesterol). They also kept track of how much the mice moved and how much they ate.
The ‘healthier’ diets (2 and 3) were beneficial in most cases. However, one of the four genetic types suffered from the Japanese diet (including rice and green tea extract). They accumulated fat in the liver, among other issues.
An example of the Ketogenic diet is the Atkins diet. High in fats and proteins and very low in carbohydrates. Even on this diet, different reactions were observed. It worked well in two genetic types while it worked very poorly in the other two types. One group became obese, with fat accumulation in the liver and high total cholesterol. The other group had a decrease in activity and more body fat, but still maintained a normal weight.
This equates to what we call ‘skinny-fat’ in humans, in which someone looks to be a healthy weight but actually has a high percentage of body fat.
The American diet (high in fats and refined sugars) did not perform well in any of the groups, as expected. Two genetic types became very obese and also showed other signs of metabolic syndrome. However, one group hardly showed any negative effects except for a small increase in liver fat. That can be compared to the lucky ones among us.
Finally, the Mediterranean diet (in this case more wheat, but also red wine extract) also yielded different results. Two groups remained healthy while in the other groups, the weight increased (but to a lesser extent than with the American diet).
In the future, the team of researchers will delve deeper into the role of specific genes in the response to different types of food. They hope to develop a genetic test that provides insight into the best personal diet based on genetic characteristics. As indicated in the introduction, there are already companies claiming to be able to provide this service.
The researchers from Texas take into account that geographical differences may also have an influence due to the extent to which previous generations have been exposed to certain foods. However, the extent of this potential influence and how it relates to ‘genetic preference’ is unclear.
References
- William T. Barrington, Phillip Wulfridge, Ann E. Wells, Carolina Mantilla Rojas, Selene Y. F. Howe, Amie Perry, Kunjie Hua, Michael A. Pellizzon, Kasper D. Hansen, Brynn H. Voy, Brian J. Bennett, Daniel Pomp, Andrew P. Feinberg, David W. Threadgill. Improving Metabolic Health Through Precision Dietetics in Mice. Genetics, 2017; genetics.300536.2017 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.117.300536
