The genetic factors involved in functional food efficacy on cardiovascular disease etiology

While the impacts of modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors on chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) are widely established, the interactions between such coexisting risk factors and their subsequent effects on the promotion or suppression of CVD are less known. As part of the diet, functional foods are considered a modifiable factor that influence health beyond their basic nutritional value. The relationship between these functional foods and the underlying genome, along with their joint implication in health and disease, forms the focus of the emerging field of nutrigenomics. Reviewed in this paper are some prominent gene-diet interactions demonstrated in CVD etiology. Specifically, the interaction between foods such as phytosterols and isoflavones with genetic factors of the consuming population are examined in relation to CVD. By determining how nutritional intake affects genetics and vice versa, we create the potential to offer improved dietary guidelines to certain individuals, subgroups, or populations in order to maximize health benefits of specific diets.