Epinutrition: Diet, Epigenetics, and the Prevention of Chronic Disease Across the Life Course

Catalog description

This course examines how dietary exposures regulate gene expression through epigenetic mechanisms across the lifespan - from preconception and fetal development through aging. Students investigate how two major classes of dietary compounds - methyl donors and epibioactives - modulate epigenetic marks implicated in metabolism, inflammation, and healthy aging. Drawing on the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease framework, the course examines how nutritional and environmental exposures during critical developmental windows program long-term health trajectories, and evaluates evidence suggesting these epigenetic signatures may be transmitted across generations. Emphasis is placed on critically evaluating nutritional epigenomics research and its implications for population-level chronic disease prevention.