Ascertainment and critical assessment of the views of the general public and healthcare professionals on nutrigenomics in Greece. (March 2012) - Pavlidis, Cristiana
Aim: The aim of this study was to understand the general public''s and healthcare professionals'' views on nutrigenomics.Patients & methods: We designed a cross-sectional survey of healthcare professionals (n = 87) and the general public (n = 1504) in the three largest cities in Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki and Patras).Results: Our data revealed that only 11.5% of respondents from the general public had been advised to take a genetic test in order to explore the relationship between their genes and their nutritional status. Although 80.5% of healthcare professionals would have been willing to recommend their patients/clients to undergo nutrigenomic analysis to correlate their genetic profile with their diet, only 17.2% of respondents had actually done so. In general, the general public was opposed to direct-access nutrigenomics testing.Conclusion: The application of genomic information in the context of nutritional choice requires the continuing education of healthcare professionals and the dissemination of accurate and reliable information to the general public.