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I was reading this article http://yourlife.usatoday.com/fitness-food/diet-nutrition/story/2011/06/DNA-based-diet-assists-with-disease-prevention/48287254/1

It brought up the idea of "Nutrigenomics".

1) How may of you have heard of this, and understand the science behind it?

I think it is, at the least, reminds me that my body is different than others. I wish I had more time to really play around with the fat/protein ratio that is "ideal" for me. I know right now it is working and it takes minimal effort. With my schedule, that is all I can hope for.

But about this topic and individualizing Paleo to suit your body - thoughts, comments?

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2 Answers

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I feel that I understand this and this is the paradigm of nutrition that I used while practicing clinical nutrition earlier in my career. I was able to help people using this paradigm, but I no longer use it. While you can help people within this nutrigenomic paradigm, it misses the mark. This paradigm states that each of us is SO SPECIAL and SO UNIQUE that we need a customized 'this' or a customized 'that'. But it basically is nonsense if you are seeking optimal health. The ideal human diet (whatever it is) is species-wide and species-specific. Each human of course, should strive to achieve the most ideal modified-paleolithic-diet. Now, it is worthwhile to debate what exactly constitutes an ideal modified-paleo-diet in a non-paleolithic world, but there is only one ideal diet for 'all' humans. This is what every other species on the planet does. Diets are species-wide/species-specific, other mammals do not demonstrate the need for special 'meals'. BTW, according to Boyd Eaton, humans are one of the least genetically-diverse of the mammalian species. Gorillas, for instance, are much more genetically-diverse (among there own species) than humans. NO OTHER (non-domesticated) mammal species demonstrates "individuality" with respect to diet, yet we stubbornly and falsely believe that each of us has intricate and special physiological needs in order to achieve optimal function. It is not so! It is important to note that the medical industry will do everything in its power to maintain control over your health. Just like religions have said throughout the ages: "The way to heaven is right through these church doors" the medically industry has most people convinced (and most people on this board too, IMHO) that health is just not possible without the assistance of their special (blood, saliva, DNA) tests and interventions at every turn.

Finally, while the following is true: Different individuals will respond differently to the chronic exposure to the ubiquitous sub-optimal (toxic and deficient) dietary environment (aka the standard American diet), i.e. some will develop cancer, some will accumulate a lot of fat, some be diabetic, some will develop cardiovascular disease, etc....this has NO BEARING on the fact that what is IDEAL (dietarily) is the same for all (nearly all) humans. Cheers.

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I'm curious when you say this is the "paradigm of nutrition" you used in your practice, do you mean you used actual genomic scans, a la 23andMe et al, or...? – Rose Jun 17 2011 at 1:13
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I have heard of it, but saying I "understand the science behind it" would be big stretch, lol. I get the basic concept, though, or I think I do. It seems like a very interesting avenue to pursue, but we're probably a long way away from any realistic implementation of it, just because our understanding of genetics is in its infancy (not to mention our understanding of nutrition).

Also, we have the tools for making our own genomic assessments right now: testing and observation. Just as you can tell a lot about a person's genetic traits by observing them, and observing their immediate family, without any need to understand the gene sequences that might be responsible for those traits, we can try different nutritional approaches for ourselves and see which ones yield the best results.

Having said all that, I'm still excited as all heck about the idea :). It would be great to not have to suffer through bad experiments for decades just to find a good way to eat and live.

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