Abstract
Dietary lipids have a major role in nutrition, not only for their fuel value, but also as essential and bioactive nutrients. This narrative review aims to describe the current evidence on nutrigenomic effects of dietary lipids. Firstly, the different chemical and biological properties of fatty acids contained both in plant- and animal-based food are illustrated. A description of lipid bioavailability, bioaccessibility, and lipotoxicity is provided, together with an overview of the modulatory role of lipids as pro- or anti-inflammatory agents. Current findings concerning the metabolic impact of lipids on gene expression, epigenome, and gut microbiome in animal and human studies are summarized. Finally, the effect of the individual’s genetic make-up on lipid metabolism is described. The main goal is to provide an overview about the interaction between dietary lipids and the genome, by identifying and discussing recent scientific evidence, recognizing strengths and weaknesses, to address future investigations and fill the gaps in the current knowledge on metabolic impact of dietary fats on health.
Highlights
The results showed that tumor incidence in ω-3 treated rats was much lower than in Colorectal cancer (CRC) model rats, suggesting a significant protective role of ω-3 polyunsaturated FAs (PUFAs)
They demonstrated that trans-fatty acids (FAs) induce adverse effects, decreasing Bacteroidetes and increasing Firmicutes and Proteobacteria abundance [197,198], the latter considered a signature of dysbiosis [199]; the families Ruminococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Rikenellaceae were significantly reduced in mice that consumed hydrogenated soybean oil [197], supporting the hypothesis of a negative impact of trans-FAs on the gut microbiota composition and on health
Plant- and animal-derived food differ in dietary lipid content and quality associated chemical characteristics, as well as for the presence of additional bioactive compounds and/or nutrients that contribute to the final effect on gene expression regulation (Figure 3)
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Inter-individual differences (i.e., the genetic variability) and environmental exposures (i.e., physical activity, drug, food pesticide residues, etc.) contribute to produce a plethora of multifaceted effects [4] For these reasons, understanding molecular effects of food on human health is an ambitious but promising goal, which could strongly impact dietary choices considering food composition, and its nutrigenomic and nutri-epigenomic properties. We have a partial knowledge of the composition of the food we daily eat [6], and of the impact that food can have on our individual genome, several findings about nutrigenomic properties of dietary lipids from both humans and animal models have been collected. The records have been screened for relevant information and only papers published within the period 2010–2020 have been selected and studied
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