23 Mar 2010 --- Nutrigenomics technology has successfully revealed the subtle but consistent physiological changes in overweight healthy men after consumption of specific food ingredients. Given that such nutritional effects tend to be relatively mild, they cannot always be revealed by the standard illness risk indicators (biomarkers). TNO has shown that nutrigenomics can identify the subtle nutritional effects on health.

Instead of focusing on individual risk indicators, the nutrigenomics strategy developed by TNO looks at the entire picture of changes in metabolism (metabolomics), signal proteins like antibodies, hormones and enzymes (proteomics), and the study of genetic information (transcriptomics). The fatty tissue of overweight people often becomes slightly inflamed, though chronically so. This is regarded as a key factor in the development of metabolic illnesses like cardiovascular diseases. It is well known that certain food ingredients can reduce the level of inflammation in people with such metabolic illnesses. TNO has now been able to show, through the use of nutrigenomics technology, that the level of inflammation can be reduced in overweight healthy men.

In a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover trial, 36 overweight healthy men were given a food additive containing resveratrol, green tea extract, vitamin E, vitamin C, fish oil and tomato extract for a period of 5 weeks. No detectable effect was recorded for the classic inflammation biomarkers such as C-reactive protein (CRP). The nutrigenomics approach, however, revealed that the supplement mix had a clearly visible effect on the inflammation process, oxidative stress and fat metabolism.

Transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic changes consistently revealed reduced inflammation of fatty tissue, improved vascular wall function and increased degradation of fats in the liver. These subtle physiological changes could have significant preventive effects on metabolic illnesses in the longer term. TNO has recently reported the results of this nutritional intervention in overweight men in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.