Purpose of review: The intestine has traditionally been assumed to process food by digestion and absorption. The possibility that the intestine or other genes in the body respond to diet has only slowly been appreciated.
Recent findings: This review examines recent evidence that nutrients act on genes in the intestine and in distant sites such as the brain, liver, and skeletal muscle. The article reviews how nutrients affect genes involved in cancer in the intestine; it also studies dietary effects on inflammatory pathways and changes in the brain. Studies in the liver have given insights as to how amino acids may regulate gene promoter activity. Finally, target of rapamycin, an epigenetic regulator, links nutrition to histone acetylation, a key event in gene expression.
Summary: The evidence that nutrients regulate gene expression continues to increase.