Systems biology of personalized nutrition

Abstract

Personalized nutrition is fast becoming a reality due to a number of technological, scientific, and societal developments that complement and extend current public health nutrition recommendations. Personalized nutrition tailors dietary recommendations to specific biological requirements on the basis of a person’s health status and goals. The biology underpinning these recommendations is complex, and thus any recommendations must account for multiple biological processes and subprocesses occurring in various tissues and must be formed with an appreciation for how these processes interact with dietary nutrients and environmental factors. Therefore, a systems biology–based approach that considers the most relevant interacting biological mechanisms is necessary to formulate the best recommendations to help people meet their wellness goals. Here, the concept of “systems flexibility” is introduced to personalized nutrition biology. Systems flexibility allows the real-time evaluation of metabolism and other processes that maintain homeostasis following an environmental challenge, thereby enabling the formulation of personalized recommendations. Examples in the area of macro- and micronutrients are reviewed. Genetic variations and performance goals are integrated into this systems approach to provide a strategy for a balanced evaluation and an introduction to personalized nutrition. Finally, modeling approaches that combine personalized diagnosis and nutritional intervention into practice are reviewed.

The effects of fasting on drug metabolism

“…Today, research is performed in different fields to personalize nutrition. For example by organizations such as the Dutch organization for applied scientific research (TNO) which collaborates with different parties such as food producers and universities to implement personalized nutrition at large scale because this improves people's health behavior to prevent diseases such as obesity and diabetes [54]. Nutrition also draws significant public attention because diet, together with exercise, remains the mainstay of lifestyle change.…”

From Diabetes Care to Diabetes Cure—The Integration of Systems Biology, eHealth, and Behavioral Change

“…Disease onset occurs when and where one or more of these adaptive processes fail. Importantly, diet and lifestyle play both a negative (caloric excess) and positive role: many nutrients serve specifically to optimize these “flexibility processes” ( 29 ). Already in 2002, the Diabetes Prevention Program demonstrated in a large 4-year study that, although metformin and lifestyle both were effective in maintaining fasting plasma glucose, the plasma glucose response to an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) (a core aspect of phenotypic flexibility) was more efficiently restored by lifestyle change than medication ( 13 ).…”

“…Type 2 diabetes, from a systems flexibility mechanistic perspective, thus can be caused by the (partial) failure of many combinations of processes involved in maintaining homeostasis ( 29 ). Pancreatic insulin secretion, insulin sensitivity of liver, muscle, and various adipose depots, intestinal permeability, and lipoprotein metabolism are some of the processes that need to maintain their flexibility.…”

“…Interestingly, almost all processes involved in maintaining systems flexibility (see above) are targets of micro- or non-nutrients. These are summarized in many dedicated reviews ( 17 , 29 , 80 , 81 ). Micronutrients are involved in ectopic lipid disposition [e.g., choline deficiency reduces fatty acid oxidation ( 82 , 83 ) and hampers VLDL particle synthesis, and thus stimulates fatty liver ( 84 )].…”

“…In taking this concept further, toward all aspects of phenotypic flexibility, Table 1 gives an example of how we envision systems diagnosis and related interventions for T2D. Many systems biology based examples of nutrient–flexibility–health relationships and the ways in which they can be personalized have been reviewed ( 29 ). In the area of hypertension, an “integrative approach” was proposed, using a multitude of food products and supplements on top of the DASH diet ( 97 ).…”