Epigenetic Features of Inflammation: Interactions of Nutrition, Physical Activity, Metabolic Diseases, and Environmental Factors and Their Role in Personalized Nutrition

Emerging translational medicine evidence suggests that epigenetic changes (DNA methylation, miRNA expression, and histone modifications) occur after external stimuli and may lead to exacerbated inflammation, increasing the risk of multiple diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and neurological diseases.

A review of the latest research advances on the harmful effects of high-fat/high-sugar diets, micronutrient deficiencies (folate, manganese, and carotenoids), obesity and its complications, bacterial/viral infections, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, sleep deprivation, chronic stress, air pollution, and chemical exposure on inflammation through epigenetic mechanisms, and explores the anti-inflammatory effects and underlying epigenetic mechanisms of caloric restriction, n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, Mediterranean diet, vitamin D, zinc, polyphenols (such as resveratrol, gallic acid, epicatechin, luteolin, curcumin), and systematic physical exercise; in summary, nutritional therapy using epigenetically active nutrients, combined with physical exercise with anti-inflammatory properties, may help reverse the adverse effects of chronic inflammation.