Food Tailored to Our Genes May Be on the Menu Soon

Lisa Ward, Wall Street Journal

Image from article, with caption: Not everyone responds the same way to a given diet. A blood test might show what will work best for you.

Excerpt:

New research raises the tantalizing possibility of creating personalized diets. The study, published by the journal Genetics, suggests genes play a strong role in influencing how our bodies respond to diets. Based on the results, the authors hope that someday people will be able to take a blood test to determine if a given diet is likely to work for them. ...

"In the study, mice with different genes were fed popular human diets: a typical North American diet, high in refined carbohydrates and fat; a Mediterranean diet, high in fiber; a Japanese diet, which for mice consisted of rice and green tea extract; and a ketogenic diet, based on the diet eaten by the Maasai in Kenya, which is high in fat and lacks carbohydrates entirely. ...

Among the mice tested, each genetic subgroup had a unique response, with certain diets working for some groups, but not others. The mice generally did worst on the American diet and best on the Japanese diet, just like an average group of people." ...