Flaminia Cesare Marincola
University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
Biography
Metabolomics is one of the most recent omics sciences that refers to comprehensive measurement of the pool
of small molecules called metabolome present in a biological sample. It is in the downstream end of the postgenomic
technologies and it allows investigating the metabolic status of an organism in relation to the genome
interaction with environmental factors such as drug treatment, diet, lifestyle, and environmental agents. Being
able to provide a dynamic picture of the functionality (i.e., of the phenotype) of a biological system, metabolomics
is having a significant impact on many fields of research. One of these is nutrition science for which the word
nutrimetabolomics or nutritional metabolomics has been coined. Here metabolomics is basically use to study
relationships between food and health, with particular focus on the identification of new dietary biomarkers, the
study of diet-related diseases and the application to intervention studies to understand the potential role of the diet
in health promotion (personalized medicine)Nutrimetabolomics appears to be a promising technique also in the
pediatric and neonatal field where research is focusing more and more on preventing the development of long-term
diseases as well as supporting the repair processes important in the therapy of already fully developed diseases.
Most children who are hospitalized or affected by chronic diseases could benefit from specific and careful attention
to nutrition. Indeed, there is a growing recognition that the nutritional status of infants has profound implications
not only for their health and growth but also for the development of the health and future of all individuals. The
purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview of the applications of metabolomics technology in the context
of neonatology and pediatrics with emphasis on the potential applications of this approach in the area of nutrition.
Abstract
Abstract : Metabolomics in the nutrition of infant