Metabolic and genetic factors responsible for variable inter-individual response of blood lipids to nutraceutical therapy

Nutraceuticals are increasingly recognized as effective modulators of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and will likely have a prominent role in both the prevention and treatment of a wide range of dyslipidemic conditions in future health care systems. However, it is also recognized that the magnitude and direction of lipid responses to nutraceutical therapy is often not consistent on a patient-to-patient basis. These variable lipid responses are underscored by numerous metabolic, pathological, environmental, and genetic factors. The significance of nutraceuticals in future personalized lipid-lowering stratagems will depend greatly on our ability to apply advances in nutrigenomic technology to identify those subject-specific factors that influence how different individuals respond to specific nutraceutical therapies. This chapter will explore what is known regarding subject-specific lipid responses to nutraceuticals and discussadvances that have been made in identifying metabolic and genetic factors that may account for these variable responses.