The Nuance
Can DNA Predict Your Perfect Diet?
Nutritional genomics would mean the end of dietary guesswork, but science hasn’t quite caught up to the hype
Every week, the Nuance will go beyond the basics, offering a deep and researched look at the latest science and expert insights on a buzzed-about health topic.
Which diet is best for weight loss: low carb or low fat?
It seems like a straightforward question — one that a single well-designed study should be able to answer. But after nearly 20 years of such studies, the debate rages on. Taken together and applied to big groups, existing research suggests the two diets are about equally effective. But at an individual level, the effectiveness of these plans varies dramatically; some people lose 50 pounds or more, while others on the same diet end up gaining weight.
If only dietitians and doctors could predict how a patient would respond to a specific diet — in terms of weight loss, but also longevity, disease risk, and other health outcomes — it would revolutionize the field of human dietetics.
Enter “nutritional genomics,” sometimes shorted to “nutrigenomics.” This is the idea — now well-founded in science — that a person’s DNA and diet choices are interwoven in…
