RELATED ARTICLE
A Genetic Diet By the Numbers
A Genetic Diet By the Numbers
ANDREW MEEHAN and RICK CONTRERAS

While a complete picture of the relationship between food, genes
and complex disease has yet to be worked out, several stats point to the benefits nutrigenomic predictions might have for human health.
By KATE TRAVIS

13% Relative increase in high density lipoprotein (HDL) levels among women who ate high amounts of polyunsaturated fats and had the A allele in the promoter region of APOA1, compared with those with the more common G allele who ate similar amounts of unsaturated fat.1

23% Percentage...

0.44% Percentage of Caucasians found homozygous for the 282C/Y mutation on the HFE gene, placing them at high risk of hemochromatosis or iron overload.3

2 Number of alleles on the lactase gene associated with lactase persistence in 77% of European Americans.5

68% Decrease in colorectal cancer risk among men who consumed adequate folate and were homozygous for the 677C/T mutation in 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) compared with men heterozygous or homozygous normal at that allele. The protective effect disappeared in men who were folate deficient.6

58 million are salt-sensitive--their mean arterial blood pressure increases at least 10% with a high-salt diet-and therefore at greater risk of hypertension.
The gene responsible is unknown.7

76 Number of days it took for rats fed resveratrol, a polyphenol in grape skins, to develop tumors after breast cancer was induced, compared with 57 days in control rats and 51 days in rats fed EGCG, a polyphenol­ in green tea.3

1. J.M. Ordovas et al., "Polyunsaturated fatty acids modulate the effects of the APOA1 G-A polymorphism on HDL-cholesterol concentrations in a sex-specific manner: the Framingham Study," Am J Clin Nutr, 75:38-46, 2002.
2. D.C. Dolinoy et al., "Maternal genistein alters coat color and protects Avy mouse offspring from obesity by modifying the fetal epigenome," Environ Health Perspect, 114:567-72, 2006.
3. T.G. Whitsett et al., "Resveratrol, but not EGCG, in the diet suppresses DMBA-induced mammary cancer in rats," J Carcinogen, 5:15, 2006.
4. P.C. Adams et al., "Hemochromatosis and iron-overload screening in a racially diverse population," N Engl J Med, 352:1769-78, 2005.
5. T. Bersaglieri et al., "Genetic signatures of strong recent positive selection at the lactase gene," Am J Hum Genet,74:1111-20, 2004.
6. J. Ma et al., "Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphism, dietary interactions, and risk of colorectal cancer," Cancer Res, 57:1098-102, 1997.
7. H. Sanada et al., "Single-nucleotide polymorphisms for diagnosis of salt-sensitive hypertension," Clin Chem, 52:352-60, 2006

 

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