Food for Thought: The Relationship Between Oral Health and Nutrition
Course Number: 583
Course Contents
Nutrigenomics & Personalized Nutrition
Nutrigenomics, the study of how food affects a person’s genes and their response to specific foods, has grown in popularity, especially with advancements in AI technology.11 The goal is personalized dietary recommendations to enhance health and prevent disease. This approach is transforming functional foods into tools for precision health, targeting inflammation and nutrient absorption. Functional foods are foods which contain probiotics, vitamins, antioxidants, omega-3’s and adaptogens, such as ashwagandha and reishi mushrooms, believed to help regulate stress, balance hormones, and provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition.11
Personalized diets show promise in enhancing the efficacy of medical treatments related to obesity, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, by focusing on the interconnection between predisposition genotype, nutrition, and disease, to deliver exact nutrition based on individual biomarkers.11 The diagram below refers to the complex relationship between individual genome and how nutrients are absorbed, metabolized, and utilized affecting growth, development, health, and disease susceptibility.
Figure 8. Relationship Interconnection between genotype, nutrition and disease.11
Nutrigenomics offers promising applications in oral health. It can help identify genetic predisposition to conditions such as gingivitis and periodontal disease, enabling dental professionals to recommend personalized dietary strategies that reduce inflammation and support tissue regeneration.12
Diet also plays a key role in shaping the oral microbiome. Incorporating foods like fermented products can promote the growth of beneficial bacteria and suppress harmful ones, potentially reducing dysbiosis associated with dental disease.12
Specific nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids, polyphenols, and vitamins C and E have been shown to enhance antioxidant defenses and modulate gene expression by downregulating inflammatory pathways.12 Ultimately, the goal of personalized nutrition in dentistry is to recognize that everyone has unique genetic and nutritional needs to support systemic and oral health.