Optimal health: Our diet (or dietary supplementation) is just one form of input

Eating natural, unprocessed foods and taking dietary supplements are a good start toward optimal health. But sometimes nutrition (even with supplementation) is not enough to bring about major or lasting changes.

Avoid disappointment

The heavy focus on foods, special diets and specific products has led many people to believe that good nutrition alone determines health. Unfortunately, this view often results in disappointment. Take a critical look at your environmental factors as well and create a holistic approach on the path to optimal health.

The Exposome: A Holistic and Ecological View of Health

One of the promises of the Human Genome Project (1988–2003) was that we would gain a better understanding of the origins of disease and thus of health. In hindsight, this promise turned out not to be entirely accurate, as only about ten percent of diseases can be attributed to genetic causes. The rest appear to come from environmental influences. This whole is referred to as the exposome.

The exposome is a concept of human health and disease. It includes all complex and lifelong exposures to environmental factors such as nutrition, lifestyle, and behavior. It also covers how the body responds to these exposures. Exposomics is the growing scientific field that maps and studies the exposome.

The English term “exposome” was introduced ten years ago by Dr. Christopher Wild, affiliated with the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization. By now, the term has become widely used.

From Genome to Exposome

Within the exposome paradigm, all non-genetic factors that contribute to health are included – what we usually call “environmental factors,” such as chemicals, medications, infectious agents, psychosocial stress, electromagnetic radiation, artificial light, and so on. By contrast, the genome refers to the complete collection of hereditary material.

The field of exposomics brings together different disciplines: especially biology and mathematics, but also evolutionary theory. In the coming years, this is expected to lead to interesting breakthroughs in health and disease prevention. Recent migrants, low socio-economic groups with high chemical exposure risks, and pregnant women are a particular focus of this research.

Apply the science to your health

By paying attention to your exposome as well, you are better able to improve your health. In addition to diet (and supplementation), consider factors such as physical activity, electromagnetic radiation, artificial light, and chemicals in everyday products. A complete health strategy that combines multiple factors can often bring about major and lasting changes.