Understanding Bioindividuality
March 1, 2021
Devising a nutrition and health design that is right for our body and mind entails acknowledging the concept of bioindividuality, or the concept that each individual has his/her own unique set of inward and outward biological characteristics, and appreciating that that uniqueness needs to be heeded to the best of our ability, rather than hopping from one mass produced diet wagon to another.
Every individual is a complex by-product of two things: genetics and environment, the first one referring to the traits we inherit from our parents and the second one broadly encompassing all external factors such as nutrition, temperature, the latitude (distance from the equator) we live at, and even big and small cultural differences - and that is just to name a few. As simple as this may intuitively sound, there are new branches of both philosophy and biology that investigate this relationship, greatly supporting the health industry in general in coming up with the best solutions with regards to allopathic medicine, functional nutrition, lifestyle interventions etc.
The traits we are given at birth make up our genotype, whereas the outward results of both long and short term adaptations of our genotype to living conditions make up our phenotype.
Factors that make up our genotype include eye and hair color, shoe size, body type, blood group, and the susceptibility to certain disorders and diseases. By contrast, variables like size and shape, social behaviors and level of fitness, are elements that make up our phenotype. It goes without saying that this day and age, stress is on the A-list of contributing factors in the making of a phenotype. Phenotypes are always influenced by basic genotypes. One example of that kinship mechanism is skin tone: our genes control the amount and type of melanin that we produce, but exposure to UV light in areas closer to the equator causes the darkening of existing melanin and increases melanogenesis and thus darker skin. Environmental factors can eventually influence our genotype, by causing chemical modifications around the genes. The emerging branch of science that studies this causal relationship is called epigenetics.
What can we take away from all this? Simply put, there is a lot we can do to ward off disease in terms of nutrition and lifestyle modifications, and while we cannot choose our genetic make-up, we must take it into account when designing a plan of action conducive to better health - failing to plan means planning to fail.
[Author: Ursula Avella]