Cells, DNA and diet – how do they work together?


The question of how the food we eat influences the behaviour of our cells – including our genes – is the focus of a major international conference that starts today in Melbourne.

The three-day ‘3rd Asia Pacific Nutrigenomics Conference 2008: Diet-Gene Interaction in Human Health and Disease’, has attracted food scientists, nutritionists, dieticians, doctors, nurses, food industry representatives and food regulators from around Australia and the world.

Conference Chair, the Director of the CSIRO Preventative Health National Research Flagship Dr Richard Head, says that better understanding human genes and cellular function will provide us with better ways of understanding chronic diseases and retarding or contributing to their prevention. This is of interest to the broader biomedical community including those involved in nutrition and food sciences.

The conference will feature a thorough review of current science in the area, presented by leading international experts in the field, as well as exploring industry perspectives and regulatory issues. The areas covered in the Conference include the interaction of diet and genes in obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and inflammation. In addition, there will be discussions on the most recent technologies available for understanding these interactions.

Among the speakers at the conference are:

*
Ben van Ommen, European Nutrigenomics Organisation: Genetic based designer diets
*
Bernhard Breier, Associate Director of the Liggins Institute, New Zealand – Nutrition, learning and lifestyle choices
*
E Shyong Tai, Singapore General Hospital, Diet, genes and cardiovascular disease
*
Michael Fenech, CSIRO: Dietary protection against disease.

The conference will also discuss future directions and opportunities for nutrigenomics-related research in the Asia Pacific region.

Nutrigenomics ’08 has been organised by CSIRO, Department of Primary Industries, Victoria, International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), Nutrigenomics NZ, DSTO and Flinders University.


Primary Contact
Dr Richard Head
Director
Preventative Health Flagship
Phone: 61 8 8303 8819
Fax: 61 8 8305 0600
Email: Richard.Head@csiro.au

Media Contact
Mrs Fiona O'Connor
Communications Officer
Preventative Health Flagship
Phone: 61 8 8303 8903
Alt Phone: 61 4 1988 6488
Fax: 61 8 8305 0600
Email: Fiona.O'Connor@csiro.au




Published on: 2008-05-07

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