Abstract

Nutritional factors such as micronutrients play major physiological roles in maintaining good health in the population globally. Recent studies indicate that intake of dietary nutrients can also impact metabolism and epigenetics. Food additives may interact, causing epigenetic changes in histone deacetylation, DNA methylation, and chromatin-transforming factors, thereby regulating gene expression and controlling the cell phenotype. These changes may contribute to gene reprogramming during development, even though most phenotypic changes occur during the perinatal period. Modern lifestyle habits and metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), hypertension, atherosclerosis, obesity predisposition, and weight changes can result in the alteration of epigenetic styles, indicating the impact of certain diets, especially those with micronutrient deficiency, on human epigenetics throughout maturity and adulthood. Presently, the three important targets in epigenetic studies with regard to obesity include (1) a search for novel epigenetic biomarkers, (2) an understanding of the obesity-associated environmental factors and (3) identification of curative techniques based on either dietary or pharmacological proxies to regulate epigenetic marks. This review addresses many important aspects such as ascertaining the impact of dietary micronutrient supplements and their doses in modifying the epigenome, identifying those epigenetic marks that predispose people to nutritional exposures, evaluating the significance of obesity on epigenetic regulation, and describing genetic markers of weight-related issues.