Beyond One Size Fits All: Personalized Nutrition for Type 2 Diabetes
November 12, 2026 | 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Speakers:
Dr Sara Mahdavi, RD, MSc, PhD (Harvard University | University of Toronto)
From Precision Nutrition to Precision Medicine: Integrating Multi-Omics, Lifestyle, and Clinical Data
Dr Ahmed El-Sohemy, PhD (University of Toronto)
Genetic Testing for Personalized Nutrition In Diabetes: Concepts and Controversies
Webinar Description
Why do individuals respond differently to the same dietary and lifestyle interventions, and how can these differences inform more effective approaches to diabetes prevention and management as well as other non-communicable chronic diseases ?
Advances in precision nutrition and medicine are creating new opportunities to move beyond population-based recommendations toward individualized prevention and treatment strategies. Integrating genetic information, multi-omics, metabolic biomarkers, lifestyle factors, and longitudinal health data offers a more comprehensive understanding of individual variability in metabolic health and disease risk.
This webinar will begin by exploring the broader scientific and clinical framework of precision nutrition and medicine, including how biological, environmental, and behavioural factors interact to influence individual health trajectories. Drawing on longitudinal population research and clinical evidence, the discussion will examine opportunities to translate these insights into individualized approaches to diabetes care, cardiometabolic health, and healthy aging.
The second presentation will focus on nutritional genomics, examining how genetic variation influences responses to dietary factors, the evidence supporting DNA-based dietary recommendations, some of the controversies surrounding genetic testing for personalized nutrition and practical considerations for implementing genetic testing in clinical practice.
Together, these complementary perspectives will highlight the evolving science and clinical application of precision nutrition, from understanding individual variability to informing personalized healthcare.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:
- Describe how genetic, metabolic, environmental, and lifestyle factors contribute to individual variability in dietary responses, diabetes risk, and cardiometabolic health.
- Discuss how multi-omics, clinical biomarkers, and longitudinal health data can inform individualized prevention and treatment strategies.
- Evaluate the evidence, opportunities, and limitations of genetic testing and precision nutrition approaches in clinical practice.
Moderator: Kafi Ealey, PhD (Toronto Metropolitan University)
About the Speakers:
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. He has supervised dozens of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and developed one of the first university courses on personalized nutrition. Dr. El-Sohemy is on the editorial board of 8 scientific and medical journals and served as an expert reviewer for more than 40 other journals and 12 granting agencies. He previously served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Genes & Nutrition, which is one of the leading journals in the field of personalized nutrition. He has over 14,000 citations with an H-index of 65. Dr. El-Sohemy has served on Health Canada’s Scientific Advisory Board and several international expert advisory panels. His research has garnered considerable media attention. Dr. El-Sohemy received the Centrum Foundation New Scientist Award for Outstanding Research by the Canadian Nutrition Society, the Mark Bieber Professional Award by the American College of Nutrition and the Stanley Wallach Award for excellence in research by the American Nutrition Association. In 2026, he was awarded the Sustained Career Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentorship Award by the University of Toronto.
Dr. Sara Mahdavi - is a clinician–scientist whose work connects nutritional genomics, precision health, and the science of longevity. An International Scholar and scientific collaborator at Harvard University, she investigates how nutrition, lifestyle, and genetics shape health and aging using the landmark Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study cohorts. To date, this is the largest, longest and most detailed study of human aging, that recently celebrated its 50th year of running with over 300,000 participants. She is also a clinician and an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Her research addresses a fundamental question in medicine: why does the same exposure benefit one person while placing another at risk? Her findings linking genetic differences in caffeine metabolism with hypertension and kidney dysfunction challenge the assumption that dietary advice applies equally to everyone. Her broader work brings gene–environment interactions and multiomics perspectives to individualized approaches to cardiometabolic health and healthy aging.
Dr. Mahdavi’s interdisciplinary training began at Western University, where she studied biology with a specialization in marine biology and earned an honours bachelor’s degree in Human Ecology and Clinical Nutrition. These studies sparked her enduring interest in the connections between environmental and human health. Following a postgraduate clinical dietetic internship at the University of Manitoba, she became a registered dietitian and worked in renal care while completing an MSc in Clinical Exercise Physiology focused on patients receiving dialysis.
She subsequently earned her PhD at the University of Toronto, studying nutritional genomics and early indicators of cardiometabolic risk in young adults. Her research training continued with two postdoctoral fellowships: at the University of Padova, where she investigated the relationship between genetics, coffee consumption, and kidney dysfunction in adults with early-stage hypertension; and at Harvard University, where she examined longitudinal interactions between nutrition, lifestyle, and genetics to understand differing trajectories of aging and longevity in women and men.
As founder of DNA Doctors Health and Wellness Institute, Dr. Mahdavi brings this breadth of scientific and clinical experience to patient care, translating research into personalized strategies for prevention, metabolic health, and longevity.
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