Ancestry, Nutrition, and Health: From Ancestral Diets to Modern Nutritional Science

Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nutrition is deeply intertwined with ancestry, heritage, and family health histories. While genetics and epigenetics have long been studied in nutritional science, genealogy offers a unique framework to trace intergenerational dietary practices, inherited health risks, and the preservation or modification of culturally determined dietary choices or foodways.

This Topic collection spans three journals, Genealogy, Nutrients, and Dietetics, and explores how genealogical perspectives—such as family traditions and historical archives—can enrich nutritional research and inform the future of personalized nutrition.

We welcome original research articles, systematic literature reviews,  and perspectives that bring together genealogy and nutrition from across the social, cultural, and nutritional sciences. 

Potential themes include, but are not limited to:

• Ancestral Diets and Traditional Foodways
  • Nutritional value of heritage diets (e.g., Mediterranean, Indigenous, Nordic, East Asian).
  • Health impacts of preserving vs. abandoning ancestral food traditions.
  • Religious and economic dimensions of dietary practices.
  • Traditional vegetarian diets and modern life-styles.
• Traditional and modern dietary practices and their impact on health. 
• Nutrition genomics and Family Health Histories
  • Genealogy as a tool in precision nutrition.
  • Interactions between ancestry, genetics, and dietary interventions.
• Epigenetics and Intergenerational Nutrition
  • Effects of historical famines, undernutrition, or dietary shifts on descendants’ health.
  • Epigenetic inheritance of nutrition-related traits across generations.
• Migration, Diaspora, and Nutritional Transitions
  • Changing diets in migrant and diaspora populations.
  • Symbolic ethnicity through preservation of cultural food traditions.
• Genealogy, Chronic Disease, and Nutritional Risk
  • Using genealogical data to study hereditary nutrition-related diseases.
  • Family-based interventions for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular conditions.
• Methodological Approaches
  • Linking genealogical archives, ancestry databases, and biobanks with nutritional studies.
  • Digital humanities and genealogy-based tools for nutritional epidemiology.
  • Developing nutritional typologies. 

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Topic Editors (a.s.leoussi@reading.ac.uk; naim.khan@u-bourgogne.fr). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Topic Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the topic. Full manuscripts for Genealogy will undergo double-blind peer-review.

Prof. Dr. Naim Akhtar Khan
Dr. Athena Leoussi
Topic Editors

Keywords

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Dietetics dietetics	-	-	2022	27.3 Days	CHF 1200	Submit
Genealogy genealogy	0.6	1.3	2017	25.1 Days	CHF 1400	Submit
Nutrients nutrients	5.0	10.2	2009	15 Days	CHF 2900	Submit

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