Learn about whether you should tailor your diet around your inherited genes, to whether the foods you eat change your DNA !
Contains the following Continuing Education modules:
- Coffee and Genetics
- Genetics of Food Preferences
- Nutritional Epigenetics
- Nutritional Genetics
- Folate and Genetics
Coffee and Genetics
Coffee has received a lot of attention regarding its “contradictory” health risks and benefits. In a sea of conflicting information, how can you know if it’s good for you – or not? Let’s dive into new and exciting discoveries to find out.
In this module you will learn…
- Whether or not coffee is good for you
- If our genes can influence how we react to coffee
- Which influences our wellness – coffee vs caffeine
- Who might see a benefit from drinking coffee and who may want to limit their intake
Genetics of Food Preferences
We all have favourite foods… and those we dislike. But could taste perception be in our genes? Were you born to taste foods differently? Let’s find out if your tastes for much-loved foods (or least-wanted ones) were pre-determined by your DNA!
In this module you will learn…
- Whether genetics could explain our individual food preferences
- Why some of us prefer sweet foods over savoury foods
- What carrying the “sweet tooth” gene might mean for you
- Whether it’s possible to override our genes and train ourselves to like foods we find unpleasant
Nutritional Epigenetics
What would you say if we told you that the “nature” part (your genes) could also be nurtured? Could the foods you eat change your DNA? If so, how? Begin learning about the latest nutrigenetic discoveries!
In this module you will learn…
- Whether the foods you eat could change your DNA
- What determines who you are: nature vs nurture
- How our genes are switched “on” or “off”
- Whether we’re really doomed by our inherited genes
- What bioactive food compounds are and whether they can really change our DNA
- Whether our genetic expression is fixed from birth
- Which foods may give us an added physiological benefit, beyond that of meeting nutritional needs
Nutritional Genetics
Have you ever wondered why some of us thrive on protein-rich diets, while others do better with dairy or carbohydrates? Might your distant ancestral past hold the key? We dive into evolutionary genetics to find the answers!
In this module you will learn…
- Whether it’s possible to eat right for our genes
- If your inherited genes might influence whether certain foods are good or bad for you
- Whether we can really blame our Palaeolithic ancestors for our gluten sensitivity
- Which sneaky gene makes the low-carb ketogenic diet risky for some
- Whether some of us might carry the “vegetarian gene”, and what it does
- Gluten, lactose, saturated fat, fructose, folate, alcohol, caffeine: whether our genes might shape our ability to process these without ill effects
- The kind of genetic testing you can do, and how it can help
Folate and Genetics
You’ve probably heard a lot about how important folate is as part of a balanced diet, but what does this vitamin actually do in your body? And what can you do if you have “faulty” genes that prevent you from using it properly?
In this module you will learn…
- Why we should care about folate and folic acid
- How much folate we need to survive
- What happens if we have a gene mutation that prevents our body from using folate properly
- Whether folic acid supplements cause cancer
