Nutrition, Epigenetic Mechanisms, and Human Disease

As nutrition research is shifting its focus from epidemiology and physiology to effects of nutrients at the molecular level, a uniquely tailored diet that corresponds to the demands of our genetic signature is emerging as an indispensable need. Using high-throughput genomic tools, nutrigenomics unravels the influence of micro- and macronutrients as potent dietary signals regulating metabolic pathways and unmasks how susceptible genotypes are predisposed to diet-related diseases. Selected topics from this field have been covered in some books, but no other comprehensive text on epigenetics, nutrition, and human health and disease is available, until now. This book illustrates nutrition’s influence on epigenetic inheritance and the mechanisms underlying the modification of the metabolic imprint of an individual. This enriched understanding of nutrigenomics can be applied to master a tailored diet that can alleviate imprinted metabolic syndromes. Specifically, the book focuses on: Maternal, perinatal, and neonatal nutrition Epigenetic mechanisms and cancer Impacts of dietary factors, folate deficiency and DNA methylation Nutrition’s influence on genetic imprinting The basics of nutrigenomics and epigenetic regulation