Plenary 1

23 Jun 2019 08:30 09:15
Mahkota 2
Precision Health: Personalising Nutrient via Nutrigenomics
Assoc Prof Dr Nik Shanita Safii Chairperson
Professor Dr Teh Lay Kek Speaker

Upon the completion of Human Genome Project, the next challenge is to harness the big data established to benefit mankind. Precision medicine was announced as a significant initiative by the USA to tap into the integrated omics to provide targeted, predictive, preventive and personalized care. Realizing the impact of genomic medicine and the importance of prevention of disease, precision health is the answer. The mystery of the interaction of gene-nutrient is of great interest to the scientists and clinicians. Nutrigenomics investigates how the foods we eat interact with our genes to affect our health; while nutrigenetics enables us to understand why some individuals respond differently than others to the exact same nutrients.

Hence, more intensive research on nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics is desperately needed. The questions of interest are how much of each nutrient is appropriate for a particular individual, what are the biological effects of a specific nutrient and how they interact with our genes to affect the important metabolic and physiologic processes in the body. In our institute, we had mapped the whole genomes of the Malays and the Orang Asli and had mined the SNPs previously reported to have an impact on gene-nutrient interaction. The variants that predispose an individual to deficiency of nutrients were detected. This information explained individual differences in response to dietary intake. Therefore, preventive strategies can be incorporated into their diet. We had also looked at the epigenetic effects of bioactive compounds in the herbal products consumed by our community. We found it interesting, that genes are switched on and off, impacting on our health. We had just started the journey and collaborative researches are encouraged to achieve more with the little resources we have.

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