Joint Center for Bioethics, University of Toronto
Research will enable personalized diets tailored to genetic make up
New research designed to help consumers create customized diets based on their genetic make up will create ethical and legal challenges with serious implications for the scientific and medical communities, warns a new consultation paper by a panel of international experts.
The paper, “Nutrition and Genes: Science, Society and the Supermarket,” a joint project of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics (JCB) and the University of Guelph philosophy department, examines ethical questions surrounding the rapidly emerging field of nutritional genomics, also called nutrigenomics, the study of how nutrients and genes interact and how genetic variations can cause people to respond differently to food nutrients.
Research started in 2000 and is still in its infancy but scientists already predict it could bring about radical changes in how food is grown, processed and consumed. They believe it will not be long before the arrival of personalized diets tailored to genetic make up. A major target will be the baby boomers, reaching their 50s and 60s and trying to forestall the onset of age-related health problems such as heart disease, arthritis, menopausal hot flashes and bone-density loss.
But the paper’s authors warn against a headlong rush to embrace nutritional genomics before there has been a detailed examination of its moral and ethical implications, backed by national awareness campaigns and public consultations.
News release in full, click here
Coverage summary, click here
Nutrigenomics coverage was led by prominent articles in the UK media, including the Financial Times, the Belfast Telegraph and the Independent.
The Globe and Mail
El Mundo, Spain
Nature Magazine devoted a page to the JCB story in its Nov. 13 edition.
A 600-word story on the Reuters newswire, headlined Genetic-Based Diet Plans May Be Risky-Canada Study was featured in several newspapers on online news outlets while The Canadian Press newswire moved a 750-word story entitled, “Public Urged to Debate Ethics of Matching Diet to Genetic Makeup.”
Other newswires that covered the story included
EFE (Spain)
Notimex (Mexico)
ANSA (Italy).