Speaker Profile
Ahmed El-Sohemy
Professor, PhD
- Nutritional Sciences
- University of Toronto
Presentation
Precision Nutrition and Premenstrual Symptoms
Around 80-90% of women experience premenstrual symptoms during reproductive age, affecting millions of women around the world. Such symptoms are dual in nature, appearing as either somatic, such as breast pain, acne, and abdominal cramps, or psychological, such as mood swings, depression, and anxiety. Some symptoms can severely affect the quality of life for women by impacting work and school absenteeism, as well as affecting social and interpersonal relationships. There is growing evidence that both nutrition and genetics play a role in the risk and severity of premenstrual symptoms. Our research over the past 10 years has uncovered several micronutrients that can affect the risk and severity of developing specific premenstrual symptoms. Moreover, we have also shown that common genetic variations can explain why some women are impacted more than others by specific dietary factors. This presentation will cover both published findings and recent cutting-edge research that has not yet been published showing up to a 5-fold increase in risk of certain premenstrual symptoms depending on both diet and genotype. This emerging field of women’s health may lead to the development of precision nutrition strategies to reduce the incidence and severity of premenstrual symptoms.
Speaker / Chair Bio
About Ahmed El-Sohemy
Dr. Ahmed El-Sohemy is a Professor and Associate Chair at the University of Toronto and held a Canada Research Chair in Nutrigenomics. He is also the Founder of Nutrigenomix Inc. and serves as Chief Science Officer. Dr. El-Sohemy obtained his PhD from the University of Toronto and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed publications and has given more than 400 invited talks around the world. The goal of his research program in nutrigenomics is to identify genetic markers that predict response to various dietary factors on a variety of health and performance outcomes. Dr. El-Sohemy has served on Health Canada’s Scientific Advisory Board and several international expert advisory panels. He is on the editorial board of 10 scientific and medical journals and served as an expert reviewer for more than 50 other journals and a dozen granting agencies. He has over 14,000 citations with an H-index of 64 and is one of the most highly cited researchers in the field of personalized nutrition. Dr. El-Sohemy is the recipient of several awards for research excellence by the Canadian Nutrition Society, the American College of Nutrition, and the American Nutrition Association.