The genomics of micronutrient requirements

Abstract

Healthy nutrition is accepted as a cornerstone of public health strategies for reducing the risk of noncommunicable conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and related morbidities. However, many research studies continue to focus on single or at most a few factors that may elicit a metabolic effect. These reductionist approaches resulted in: (1) exaggerated claims for nutrition as a cure or prevention of disease; (2) the wide use of empirically based dietary regimens, as if one fits all; and (3) frequent disappointment of consumers, patients, and healthcare providers about the real impact nutrition can make on medicine and health. Multiple factors including environment, host and microbiome genetics, social context, the chemical form of the nutrient, its (bio)availability, and chemical and metabolic interactions among nutrients all interact to result in nutrient requirement and in health outcomes. Advances in laboratory methodologies, especially in analytical and separation techniques, are making the chemical dissection of foods and their availability in physiological tissues possible in an unprecedented manner. These omics technologies have opened opportunities for extending knowledge of micronutrients and of their metabolic and endocrine roles. While these technologies are crucial, more holistic approaches to the analysis of physiology and environment, novel experimental designs, and more sophisticated computational methods are needed to advance our understanding of how nutrition influences health of individuals.

Clinical and Vitamin Response to a Short‐Term Multi‐Micronutrient Intervention in Brazilian Children and Teens: From Population Data to Interindividual Responses

“…[]). We and others (e.g., ref. []) previously proposed that differences in fasting and response to micronutrients may contribute to differences in the incidence of some common diseases.…”

“…Genome wide association studies and candidate gene studies (reviewed in ref. []) have identified single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with homeostatic levels of micronutrients. However, the majority of such associations have small effect sizes and the sum of all variants identified for a trait explain only a small proportion of the phenotype .…”

Global Change and the Soil Microbiome: A Human-Health Perspective

“…In this sense, it has been repeatedly shown through experimental studies and meta-analyses that increased N deposition is typically associated with changes in soil microbial communities (usually related to a decrease in abundance and biodiversity ;Treseder, 2004Treseder, , 2008Ramirez et al, 2010;Zeng et al, 2015), reduced ecosystem functionality (alterations of energy metabolism; Waldrop and Zak, 2006;Treseder, 2008;Liu et al, 2014) and short-to mid-term increases in C sequestration, especially in aboveground biomass, but also in the soil and roots (comparable to obesity, as previously mentioned; Xia and Wan, 2008;Yue et al, 2016). Given that metabolic disorders and obesity in humans are clearly associated with a deterioration in the health status of individuals that may even result in cases of fatality due to chronic diseases, sudden death or, quite commonly in the natural world, to increased sensitivity to other environmental stresses (Mathur and Barlow, 2015;Monteiro et al, 2015), I think that we would do well to be cautious when we consider, perhaps naively, the potential benefits of a N that, after all, is the result of the atmospheric pollution derived from our activities (Gruber and Galloway, 2008).…”

A systems approach to personalised nutrition: Report on the Keystone Symposium “Human Nutrition, Environment and Health”

“…Jacqueline Pontes Monteiro challenged such conventional approaches to human studies by highlighting the advantages of using the novel “N-of-1” clinical trial to ascertain individualised micronutrient requirements. Nutritional intake guidelines proposed by government organisations are largely based on averages calculated from whole populations ( Monteiro et al, 2015 ). However, tracking the individual metabolic response to micronutrient intake over time can be more informative for personal requirements, and ultimately lead to a nutritional treatment program.…”