PRESCRIPTIONS Genetics may be basis of made-to-order diets

Blood analysis may dictate for health-conscious eaters.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Looking far into the future, the babbling dinner party conversations weighing the pros and cons of the Adkins Diet vs. the South Beach Diet and the Zone may be history one day.
In a decade or so, health-conscious eaters will simply have a finger pricked and blood drawn and shipped to a genomics lab. As the New York Times Magazine reported recently, it will be analyzed and crossed with your own DNA.
Soon after, you receive a made-to-order diet of the month, designed to be the healthiest anti-disease plan for your genes.
You may be advised to stock up on salmon and spinach. A friend gets popcorn and peaches. Another is prescribed peanut butter. In the best-case scenario prediction, you'll all stay well and never have to take sick days.
In short, the scientific theory coming out of the Human Genome Project is that the influence of diet on health depends on genetic makeup.
Ethnic background
The most controversial factor is the relevance of ethnic background, Bruce Grierson writes in the Times.
He believes people of Northern European descent, for instance, are more likely to have developed a lactose tolerance, while many adults tend to lose it when they no longer need milk. The Japanese who came to America after the world war developed high cholesterol on a Western diet. And probably at least 60 percent of the population will be healthy simply on a high count of vegetables and fruit.