| |APRIL 202119W ith increasing awareness about health and wellness, more and more people are transforming their lifestyle choices. During the quarantine period, many people made efficient use of their leisure time by working towards their well-being. Since the diet is a fundamental part of a healthy lifestyle, many people start by making changes in their eating patterns. With a plethora of information available on the internet, it is difficult to determine what is actually good for your body and what's not.Eating right is not confusing as some people might assume. Sometimes, if a particular diet works for an individual, it is not necessary that it would suit the other individual too. People need to understand that everyone has a different body shape, type, weight, genes, etc. so, there is no 'one-size-fits-all approach' when it comes to diet. So, variability in results with a single diet is bound to happen among different individuals.Since the requirement of every body type is different, the customizing dietary solution seems like the modern approach towards maintaining a sound body and mind. Many research studies have found that people find overwhelming results with personalized nutrition advice and tend to develop healthier eating habits.WHAT IS A PERSONALIZED NUTRITION APPROACH?Personalized nutrition approach is based on the idea of "individualizing" advice and support to encourage the required dietary changes for a healthy lifestyle instead of generic advice, which could be irrelevant for an individual. Personalized nutrition infers unique nutrition guidelines for each individual, which are based on a combination of factors such as genetics, environmental factors, lifestyle, personal behaviors, preferences, or objectives.The principle of personalized nutrition is not to idealize certain food products, nor change existing nutritional guidelines, but rather assist an individual in attaining a lasting eating pattern, which can be beneficial for their overall health over the long term. Personalized nutrition does mean not subscribing to just one food philosophy such as a low-carb or high-protein or animal product-free diet. Instead, it focuses on subscribing to a food philosophy that you create for yourself based on your individual needs.FACTORS THAT DRIVE PERSONALIZED NUTRITION DNA PROFILING Genetics and nutrients interact at the molecular level to dictate the outcome in an individual. This phenomenon is known as nutritional genomics or nutrigenomics. Different individuals metabolize the same amount of nutrients differently based on their genetic composition. For instance, some people eat a lot of carbohydrates but still stay lean while other individuals might start to gain weight. It happens due to the difference in the metabolism rate, which is defined by genetic makeup. However, a long intake of nutrients such as vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and folate can cause epigenetic changes, which could influence the well-being of an individual. GUT MICROBIOMEOur immune system hosts about 100 trillion microbes, which mostly include bacteria, but also viruses, PERSONALIZED FOOD IS THE FUTUREBy Mehar Bakshi, Dietitian & Founder, DietinTHOUGHT CENTRALMehar Bakshi, Dietitian & Founder
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