Nutritionists have long known that ‘you are what you eat’ is not just
an expression. Recent studies suggest that what you eat affects you
and sometimes even your children and grandchildren.
This winter Nestlé convened esteemed experts in human and animal
health to talk about the future of nutrition science. One theme to
emerge was the epigenetic impact of diet and lifestyle on individual
health. Epigenetics is the study of how different biological and
environmental signals affect gene expression. Rather than change DNA
itself, epigenetic signals can, for example, prompt changes in the
number of methyl chemical groups attached to a gene, turning it on or
off. A person’s diet is an important source of epigenetic signals, and Epidemiological studies show how certain exposures have shaped the
scientists are now investigating how eating habits modify gene
health of specific populations over time, particularly between mother
expression in adults and their offspring. Understanding that
and child. One famous example is the Dutch Hunger Winter. In 1944, a
relationship could help researchers identify nutritional elements that
famine struck the western Netherlands, forcing inhabitants—including
might help prevent or treat diseases such as obesity, diabetes,
pregnant mothers—to live on between 400 and 800 calories a day.
coronary artery disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s.
When scientists later studied the babies conceived, carried, or
At the Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, more than delivered during this period, they found elevated rates of obesity,
550 scientists, research assistants and technicians drive science and altered lipid profiles and cardiovascular disease in adulthood.
technology for all of Nestlé’s businesses worldwide. This includes To better understand how epigenetics could guide the development of
exploring the relationship between diet and human health. Epigenetics
nutritional solutions for pregnant and lactating women, Nestlé
is becoming progressively more important to this work, says Irma Silva-
established a partnership in 2011 with the EpiGen Global Research
Zolezzi, the Maternal Nutrition Platform Leader at the Nestlé Research
Consortium. The group comprises the University of Southampton,
Center. “It’s critical to understand the role of nutrition in
Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, National University of
transgenerational health, particularly between mother and child,” she
Singapore and Auckland UniServices Limited. The jointly-funded
says. Epigenetics impacts cell differentiation and shapes how cells
partnership focuses on how the diet and lifestyle of pregnant women,
function in the long term, making it vital to understanding how
as well as other factors like early life microbiota, can influence their
nutrition during pregnancy may impact multiple generations.
baby’s genes and development. In 2015, EpiGen and the Nestlé
Epidemiological studies show how certain exposures have shaped the Research Center published a study in the journal mBio in which
health of specific populations over time, particularly between mother researchers found that the dynamics of infant gut microbiota can
and child. One famous example is the Dutch Hunger Winter. influence a subject’s body fat later in life.
Recently, EpiGen began an international clinical trial, NiPPeR, also One complication is the sheer complexity of the epigenome. Along
known as the ‘Nutritional Intervention Preconception and During with diet, exercise, environment, and mood may effect gene
Pregnancy to Maintain Healthy Glucose Metabolism and Offspring expression. In a 2014 study published in Epigenetics, scientists at the
Health’. The study is assessing whether a nutritional drink taken before Karolinska Institute in Sweden asked 23 men and women to bicycle
conception and throughout pregnancy could help support healthy using only one leg for 45 minutes, four times a week over three
glucose metabolism in mothers. As Silva-Zolezzi explains, maternal months. In comparing muscle biopsies before and after the
blood glucose levels may already be high long before gestational experiment, scientists found that, in the exercised muscle, new
diabetes is diagnosed at around 28 weeks of pregnancy. This could patterns had developed on genes associated with insulin response,
affect both mother and fetus, putting them at higher risk of metabolic inflammation and energy metabolism.
conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, later in life. Adjusting nutrition
early in pregnancy—or even before conceiving—could potentially help
Even emotional traumas can be transmitted to subsequent
stop or slow down that process. generations through epigenetic inheritance. A 2016 study conducted
by New York’s Mount Sinai hospital and published in Biological
Nestlé and EpiGen are not the only groups investigating the Psychiatry suggests that the genes of the children of Holocaust
epigenetic impact of diet. In a study conducted at the German survivors showed evidence of an increased likelihood of stress
Research Center for Environmental Health and published in Nature disorders, for example.
Genetics in 2016, genetically identical mice that consumed a high-fat
diet were more likely to produce obese offspring with impaired
glucose tolerance, an early sign of type 2 diabetes. “Nutrition, exercise and other
Nor are epigenetic impacts limited to obesity and diabetes. A 2014 environmental factors are just
study in Science conducted by the University of Cambridge revealed part of the puzzle that affects
that undernourished pregnant mice bore offspring with glucose
intolerance and pancreatic issues. Moshe Szyf, a geneticist at McGill an individual’s risk to develop
University Medical School in Montreal, is investigating the epigenetic particular conditions or
basis of multiple diseases, including depression and Alzheimer’s. He
recently contributed to a paper in Biological Psychiatry in February disease,” Silva-Zolezzi says.
2017 on the connection between maternal infection in pregnant mice But the more we look, she
and the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in their offspring.
Even so, Szyf says that drawing clear relationships between epigenetic says, “the more answers we’ll
signals and disease is difficult. “In animal studies we’ve seen that find, and the better we can
changes in diet may impact risk [for disease],” he says. “But it’s not yet work to improve health.”
clear in humans.”
Preguntas
- ¿Qué es la epigenética?
- Mencione 3 factores que pueden modificar el epigenóma humano
- En el contexto de la epigenética, de un ejemplo de cómo los hábitos alimenticios de
una madre embarazada pueden impactar en la salud del bebe a corto y largo plazo.
