Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Bioethics Programmes, School of Public Health (ESPUM), University of Montreal, C.P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montreal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada.
Genes Nutr. 2014 Jan;9(1):370. doi: 10.1007/s12263-013-0370-6. Epub 2013 Nov 29.
Nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics (hereafter NGx) have stimulated expectations for beneficial applications in public health and individuals. Yet, the potential achievability of such promise is not without socioethical considerations that challenge NGx implementation. This paper focuses on the opinions of NGx researchers about potential risks raised by NGx. The results of an online survey show that these researchers (n = 126) are fairly confident about the potential benefits of NGx, and that most downplay its potential risks. Researchers in this field do not believe that NGx will reconfigure foods as medication or transform the conception of eating into a health hazard. The majority think that NGx will produce no added burden on individuals to get tested or to remain compliant with NGx recommendations, nor that NGx will threaten individual autonomy in daily food choice. The majority of researchers do not think that NGx will lead to discrimination against and/or stigmatization of people who do not comply with NGx dietary recommendations. Despite this optimism among NGx researchers, we suggest that key risk factors raised by the socioethical context in which NGx applications will be implemented need to be considered.
营养基因组学和营养遗传学（以下简称 NGx）激发了人们对其在公共卫生和个体中有益应用的期望。然而，这种承诺的实现潜力并非没有社会伦理考虑因素，这些因素对 NGx 的实施提出了挑战。本文重点关注 NGx 研究人员对 NGx 提出的潜在风险的看法。在线调查的结果表明，这些研究人员（n=126）对 NGx 的潜在益处相当有信心，并且大多数人都淡化了其潜在风险。该领域的研究人员认为，NGx 不会将食物重新配置为药物，也不会将饮食概念转变为健康危害。大多数人认为，NGx 不会给个人带来额外的检测负担，也不会要求他们遵守 NGx 的建议，更不会威胁到个人在日常食物选择中的自主权。大多数研究人员认为，NGx 不会导致不遵守 NGx 饮食建议的人受到歧视和/或污名化。尽管 NGx 研究人员持这种乐观态度，但我们认为，需要考虑 NGx 应用实施所涉及的社会伦理背景中提出的关键风险因素。
