DILIP GHOSH
Nutriconnect, 20 Cecil Avenue, Castle Hill, NSW 2154, Sydney, Australia

Abstract

Consumer acceptance is crucial for the development of successful food products based on nutrigenomics principles. Not all technologies, however, are equally accepted by consumers. Nutrigenomics, the study of how different foods may interact with specific genes, aims to promote and maintain health via optimised and personalised food products and services. Besides advancing the fundamental understanding of diet–disease relationships, nutrigenomics could provide opportunities for the development of food products or dietary advice tailored to the nutritional needs of specific groups of consumers, or even individuals. Upfront involvement and proactive communication of all stakeholders are considered crucial for successful commercialisation of personalised foods.

INTRODUCTION

Nutrigenomics is a technology-based science of how bioactive chemicals in foods, nutritionals and supplements interact with an individual’s genome and brings unprecedented opportunities to address many unmet healthcare burdens. Chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity are rising and threaten our healthcare system. Most of them are directly linked with our lifestyle and are preventable. Many of such chronic diseases may be preventable by avoiding those factors that trigger the disease process (primary prevention) or by use of dietary intervention that modulates the disease process before the onset of clinical symptoms (secondary prevention).

MARKET SCENARIO
Every month at least a company is joining to dip a toe into the personalised nutrition pool by offering a product to practitioners for integrating these into their practices and to improve patient health outcome. More than a decade after the introduction of nutrigenomics science, the commercial growth and success rate are slower than expected. Some of these reasons are scientific in nature, some technical and others related to ...