Why does Nutrition play a key role in our overall well-being?
For millennia we have been bombarded with research and nonscientific claims about the advantageous benefits of good nutrition. It is a well known fact that nutrition will directly affect your health and well-being positively or negatively depending on your macronutrient consumption. Having said that, let us delve further into the scientific basis for these claims.
Nutrition and its role in growth and development : Epigenetics (genetic imprinting) tells us how key nutritional excesses or deficiencies can affect the long term well-being of a child both in the mother's womb and also in the first few years of life after birth. Children of diabetic mothers tend to have a diabetic and obesogenic tendency secondary to exposure that happens in utero, and this is the rationale behind a physician's insistence for the maintenance of a healthy body weight during pregnancy. Even the timing of introduction of solids to a baby can also effect the future tendency towards an obese state. Good nutrition can also have a direct effect on maternal and paternal fertility and ability to conceive. For example, a diet rich in Omega-3 fatty acids is anti-inflammatory and prevents chronic disease, but one with Omega-6 fatty acids is pro-inflammatory; thus, individual components can have variable effects.
Precision nutrition interventions : Nutrients are diverse with various Bioactive ingredients that tend to have variable effects in different individuals. For example, when we consider weight and height ratios like BMI (Body Mass Index), newer research points to the fact that certain ethnic groups, including people from India and Asia, will benefit from lower BMI and waist circumference readings when compared to their western counterparts to prevent the occurrence of metabolic syndrome. Omics is a field of science that also involves studying the effect of nutrients on one's genome (nutrigenomics), proteins, and metabolites. Different diet plans may benefit different individuals based on their genetic and epigenetic markers.
Role of Microbiome : There are populations of microorganisms within a person’s gut which are are highly heterogeneous and dependent on a person’s macronutrient intake, physiological status, and environmental factors. These microorganisms play a key role in energy extraction from foods, in metabolism, and in weight control. Research shows that fecal transplants from obese mice to healthy mice have induced weight gain in the lean mice, indicating that these microorganisms have far-reaching effects.
A healthy diet is based on an optimal balance and intake of low-fat dairy, whole grains, healthy oils, fruits, legumes, vegetables, fish (wild-caught preferably), eggs, skinless white meat portions of poultry, as well as very limited portions of red meats, caffeine, and alcohol. This diet should be a consistent practice with an intermingling of regular exercise—aerobic and resistance exercise should be under the supervision of your physician. As always, I wish that you make wise choices with respect to your nutrition and live long and strong!
