KEITH A. GRIMALDI
DNAFit Ltd
London, United Kingdom

Abstract

A brief history of personal nutrition, what is it and how is it applied? Personal nutrition, or PN, is as old as nutrition itself, but in its new incarnation it is firmly in the realm of health and well-being. Beginning with genetics, or nutri-genetics, in 2001 when the first genetic test for nutrition went on sale, it has developed to include other technologies of phenotype and the microbiome. It has been tested in several EU projects and commercially, it is coming of age. What does this mean for the general public and the food & supplement industry?

INTRODUCTION

What is Personalised Nutrition (PN)? It has always been with us in many areas:

• Religious
• Culture (in New York you are given a half-litre mug of coffee, in Naples you get 20 ml)
• Social/Moral (e.g. vegetarian)
• Affordability
• Taste (of course)
• Advertising pressure
• Condition related (Celiac, Diabetes, Lactose intolerance).

So it’s not new... but it is new. Now it has become the focus for general well being, healthcare and for prevention of common chronic diseases – involving genotype, phenotype (including metabolomics) and the microbiome. Genetically, for decades, it has been part of daily life for people with inborn errors of metabolism such as glucosaemia, hereditary fructose intolerance, and phenylketonuria (1-3), which are rare metabolic diseases arising from mutations in particular genes, as well as for more common disorders (e.g. lactose intolerance, coeliac disease (4,5)). However, more recently, interest has grown in the wider application of PN for the general public through using information about (common) genetic variants as the basis for targete ...