Gene–Dairy Food Interactions and Health Outcomes: A Review of Nutrigenetic Studies

Abstract

Each person differs from the next by an average of over 3 million genetic variations in their DNA. This genetic diversity is responsible for many of the interindividual differences in food preferences, nutritional needs, and dietary responses between humans. The field of nutrigenetics aims to utilize this type of genetic information in order to personalize diets for optimal health. One of the most well-studied genetic variants affecting human dietary patterns and health is the lactase persistence mutation, which enables an individual to digest milk sugar into adulthood. Lactase persistence is one of the most influential Mendelian factors affecting human dietary patterns to occur since the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution. However, the lactase persistence mutation is only one of many mutations that can influence the relationship between dairy intake and disease risk. The purpose of this review is to summarize the available nutrigenetic literature investigating the relationships between genetics, dairy intake, and health outcomes. Nonetheless, the understanding of an individual’s nutrigenetic responses is just one component of personalized nutrition. In addition to nutrigenetic responses, future studies should also take into account nutrigenomic responses (epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic), and phenotypic/characteristic traits (age, gender, activity level, disease status, etc.), as these factors all interact with diet to influence health.

Dairy foods and health: an umbrella review of observational studies

“…Another difference between US and European milk relies on the type of casein (the main milk protein): digestion of bovine A1 beta-casein (particularly present in Europe), but not the alternative A2 betacasein, releases beta-casomorphin-7, which activates µ-opioid receptors expressed throughout the gastrointestinal tract resulting in increased gastrointestinal transit time, production of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 and the inflammatory marker myeloperoxidase (Pal et al 2015). Finally, genetic variants (i.e., mutations in the lactase gene resulting in lactase persistence) have shown to potentially play a role between dairy consumption and cardio-metabolic diseases, certain types of cancer and bone health, as well as lipid metabolism, hormone receptor function, and vitamin D receptor function, but current research has produced mixed results and the potential for differential sensitivity between genotypes to the health effects of dairy food intake has to be further investigated (Comerford and Pasin 2017).…”

Update on lactose malabsorption and intolerance: pathogenesis, diagnosis and clinical management

“…Results regarding other effects of milk consumption such as cardiovascular health and cancer are controversial 94. In a large Swedish study, individuals with high consumption of non-fermented milk and other dairy products had a higher all-cause mortality (HR: 1.32, 95% CI: 1.18 to 1.48); however, these results were not robust in the subgroup for which a Mendelian randomisation study could be performed 95.…”

Characterization of Sheep Milk Extracellular Vesicle-miRNA by Sequencing and Comparison with Cow Milk

“…New prevailing techniques such as genomics, metabolomics, proteomics make it possible to clarify the milk components and further illustrate the symbiotic relationship between the mother and the infant [2]. The grow of "nutrigenomics", elucidating the metabolism of nutrients by high-throughput sequencing technologies, proved another vital role of milk besides providing nutrients, namely intervening in genetics [15]. A previous study supported the role of milk as an epigenetic "doping system" during mammalian development [16].…”