Genetic Testing for Personalized Nutrition

​Speaker: ​Dr. Ahmed El-Sohemy

There is increasing awareness among researchers, educators, healthcare professionals and consumers that the one-size-fits-all, population-based approach to nutritional guidance is inefficient and sometimes ineffective. Genetic differences can explain some of these different responses and randomized controlled trials show that giving DNA-based dietary advice can be superior to population-based recommendations for improving compliance. With increasing consumer awareness and demand for genetic testing, there is a need for nutrition professionals to have sufficient knowledge to understand the science behind these tests, how they can be used in practice and determine the benefits and limitations of both the science and the testing.

Dr. Ahmed El-Sohemy is a Professor and Associate Chair and held a Canada Research Chair in Nutrigenomics at the University of Toronto. He is also the founder of Nutrigenomix Inc., and serves as the company’s Chief Science Officer. Dr. El-Sohemy obtained his PhD from the University of Toronto and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard. He has over 200 peer reviewed publications and has given more than 350 invited talks around the world. Dr. El-Sohemy is the recipient of several awards for excellence in research by the American College of Nutrition, the Canadian Society for Nutrition and the American Nutrition Association.