Chapter 14: Conclusion and Future Trends in Fat Consumption

Fat intake is essential for the normal functions of an organism. Within fats, certain polyunsaturated fatty acids stand out for their beneficial effect on human health. Other fatty acids are essential and need to be ingested through the diet because they cannot be synthesized by the body. Western lifestyles mean that diets tend to be poor in some of these fatty acids. Therefore, modifying the lipid profile of foods to increase the concentration of these fatty acids is a line with great potential in the field of food technology. This will allow the population to improve daily intakes of essential nutrients such as polyunsaturated fatty acids. In recent years, the term “personalized nutrition” has become widespread. This term refers to the adaptation of the diet to the intrinsic characteristics of each person. Personalized nutrition has taken a giant step forward in the last decade thanks to the birth of nutrigenomics. This field of nutrition provides insight into how nutrients interact with the human genome and how the genetic variants of each individual influence nutrient metabolism. Nutrigenomics has developed hand in hand with omics technologies. Despite the progress made in this field, there is still much to understand. The future of this field lies in the combination of several omics techniques in human trials to understand in depth all the metabolic pathways influenced by fat consumption.