FK-KMK UGM. Department of Biochemistry of Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing UGM held a nutrigenomics webinar on Wednesday (7/9) through a zoom meeting. This webinar present 2 speakers, Prof. Dr. Dra. Sunarti, M.Kes from Department of Biochemistry FK-KMK UGM and Dr. Hong Chen from Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois Urbana as a guest lecturer.

Prof. Dr. Dra. Sunarti, M.Kes brings “Application of Nutrigenomics in Metabolic Syndrome Disorders” as her topic. Based on what she said, metabolic disorders need more attention because they cause other diseases. “Metabolic disorders are connected with a lot of things in our body so it may cause different diseases in every person”, she said.

Her research found that pumpkin and black rice contain something that can be used for antidiabetic and anti hypercholesterol. “From this research we know that pumpkin flour can repair hypercholesterol in a rat”, she added.

Our guest lecturer, Dr. Hong Chen brings “Colon Cancer Tumorigenesis and Molecular Markers for Dietary Prevention” as her topic. There are 3 points that she discussed, host epithelial modulations lead to tumorigenesis, perturbation in the colon immune system is a marker for colon cancer risk, and changes in gut microbiota is associated with colon cancer risk.”Cancer has high rank as the most common disease affecting the world’s population”, she said.

Her research found that soy genistein can reduce colon cancer risk. “We have to know molecular characteristics from soy genistein to use it as a colon cancer risk prevention”, she added. (Nirwana/Reporter)