Genes or nutrition? DOST studies factors behind height, build

Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) researchers and scientists are embarking on a landmark study seeking to determine if a person’s height and build are dictated by genes or are a result of proper nutrition – or the lack of it.

- RAINIER ALLAN RONDA

Gerard Bryan Gonzales, an expatriate Filipino academician serving as a senior scientist at the Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands and also at the Universiteit Gent in Ghent, Belgium, said the study led by Jacus Nacis, a doctoral candidate in Wageningen, was trailblazing and ambitious as it integrated genomics and nutrition research.

“We are looking if stunting in the Philippines is caused by genes. Do we have a genetic propensity to metabolize food differently?” Gonzales said yesterday in his 50th DOST-FNRI Seminar Series lecture “Food and Nutrition Research in the Global Arena: Opportunities for the Philippines” at the Sheraton Manila Hotel in Pasay City.