Abstract
It is known that individuals respond differently to the same dietary intake differently. Nutrigenetics is an essential discipline to study gene-based differences in response to dietary components for nutrition and dietetics practice. One of the best-known examples for nutrigenetics is the polymorphism of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T. The presence of the C677T mutation in MTHFR gene is associated with a reduction of MTHFR enzyme activity. This reduction of MTHFR enzyme activity may cause an increase in plasma homocysteine level which becomes risk factors for cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment and neural tube defects. Plasma homocysteine level is responsive to intervention with folic acid and related vitamin B group. "Sakado Folate Projects" is a health promotion with personalized nutrition intervention based on MTHFR C677T polymorphisms for prevention of these diseases associated with hyperhomocysteinemia. An increase in serum folate level and a decrease in serum homocysteine level were observed at 4 months after the onset of this intervention and these changes were particularly marked in individuals with TT genotype. This finding suggests that personalized nutrition intervention based on genetic information is effective in motivating individuals to change their lifestyle habit.
