Molecular and genetic considerations for long-term nutrition interventions
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abstract
The potential for new functional foods and substantial modification of traditional foods presents unprecedented opportunities and new challenges to the public health community. The technical advances that enable these possibilities presumably present an efficient, costeffective, and sustainable means of improving human health and preventing nutritionrelated diseases. Directed manipulation of the food supply, however, presents risks that also must be considered and monitored carefully to avoid known adverse consequences associated with elevated nutrient intakes. Additionally, more research is necessary to understand the subtle effects and longterm consequences that result from elevated individual nutrient intakes on human health and disease risk through changes in gene expression and genome stability. Growing awareness that genetic variation influences both nutrient requirements and upper levels of safe intake require that the risks and benefits associated with manipulation of the food supply be considered at the individual and population levels. In the present report current approaches and limitations to the precise manipulation of the food supply are considered in light of recent efforts to prevent neural tube defects by increasing the population's dietary folic acid intake.
