Nutrition, Epigenetic Mechanisms, and Human Disease

Extensive research on nutrigenomics has unveiled numerous epigenetic mechanisms that are influenced by our dietary signature. This book illustrates how nutrition can influence epigenetic inheritance and the mechanisms that underlie modification of an individual’s metabolic imprint. The text discusses the basics of nutrigenomics and epigenetic regulation, types of nutrition influencing genetic imprinting, and the role of nutrition in modulating an individual''s predisposition to disease. It also covers epigenetic variation, genomic imprinting, maternal nutrition, and neonatal nutrition, as well as epigenetics and nutrition in cancer, heart disease, and obesity.

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