Eating away at disease

People predisposed to obesity, bowel cancer and cardiovascular disease may one day be able to avoid the disease just by eating if revolutionary research is successful.

A million-dollar partnership between Crop and Food Research, AgResearch, HortResearch and the University of Auckland looking at the emerging science of nutritional genomics is taking New Zealand to the cutting edge of science internationally, says programme leader Dr Lynnette Ferguson.

The New Zealand Nutrigenomics Centre of Excellence, which received a funding injection of $19.2 million in the budget, looks at the relationship between a person's genes and what he or she eats.

Dr Ferguson, a nutrition professor at Auckland University, said diet had potential to make a real difference in genetically linked diseases.

"Our genetic make-up determines how we react to different foods and how we utilise them.

"What has got nutritional value for one person may not be so good for another."

By looking at those genetic differences in people ... scientists might be able to manipulate their diet to help manage the disease, she said.

Crop and Food research leader Professor Julian Heyes said sufferers of Crohn's disease, an incurable irritable bowel condition, might be the first to benefit from the research.

Professor Heyes said about half of those who suffered from Crohn's had a specific defect in their genes.

Many sufferers reported improvement when they ate certain foods, but no one knew exactly what foods were beneficial and why.

He said the ultimate aim was pinning down what foods those with Crohn's reacted to.

Research might see scientists able to optimise human performance on the sports field and slow the effects of ageing.

A long way down the track, but still possible, was using diet to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes, obesity and even bowel cancer to those genetically predisposed to the diseases.

The project could also lead to a whole new industry of "functional foods", involving the creation of comestibles customised to suit people with particular conditions, said Professor Heyes.


- NZPA