Nutrigenomics in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells : the effects of fatty acids on gene expression profiles of human circulating cells as assessed in human intervention studies

Research on the effects of nutrition on the function and health of organs in the human body, such as liver and intestine, is difficult, because for this research organ tissue is needed. Since nutrition research is usually performed in healthy volunteers, this tissue is difficult to obtain. However, to find out what happens on cellular level we do need human cells. Because blood cells are transported through the entire body and are relatively easy to obtain, these cells are ideal to study the effect of nutrition on cellular level. For this research we used the latest molecular genomics techniques to study the activity (on/off switching, increase/decrease) of all our genes at once. We found that consumption of different types of fat, both directly after consumption and after continued intake, changed the activity of specific groups of genes in these cells. With this research we have shown that the subtle effects of nutrition can be studied using nutrigenomics techniques in humans by using blood cells.