In
a recent research article published in Cell
Metabolism, scientists Sean Curran and Shanshan Pang identified
a collection of genes that allow an organism to adapt to different diets. This
testing showed that without these genes even minor tweaks to a diet could
cause premature aging and death. By finding the genetic basis of an organism’s
dietary needs suggests that different individuals may be genetically
predisposed to thrive on different diets. This finding could soon lead to a
simple blood test that reveals which diet would work best for an individual.
This could explain why some people swear a specific diet is effective yet
others may find it not effective while another diet is very effective.
The organism
that was studied was a one-millimeter-long worm known as Caenorhabditis elegan.
This is a model organism that has shown to contain genes that are likely to be
identical in humans and have a short lifespan. This makes them ideal for aging
studies. Curran and Pang stated
that a gene known as alh-6 delayed effects of aging depending on what type of
diet the worm was fed by protecting it against diet-induced mitochondrial
defects. "This
gene is remarkably well-conserved from single celled yeast all the way up to
mammals, which suggests that what we have learned in the worm could translate
to a better understanding of the factors that alter diet success in
humans," Curran said. "We hope to uncover ways to enhance the use of
any dietary program and perhaps even figure out ways of overriding the
system(s) that prevent the use of one diet in certain individuals.”
I
believe this type of testing will prove to by very successful in the future
because society is constantly trying to find easier ways to prolong the effects
of aging. Many individuals have become wealthy by selling illegitimate products
and services that promise significant weight loss and prevent aging. So to find
that genetic background on what will actually work for individual can be
extremely beneficial simply because someone may never find what specific diet
works best for them. By focusing future work on identifying what contributes
to dietary success or failure could be the start of something I believe could
be very valuable and important to our society.
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