Food, prevention, and ethics Tailor-made dietary advice to prevent colorectal neoplasia

The growing knowledge of interactions between food, lifestyle, genetic and environmental factors of health will have a profound impact on societal and personal life [4,8]. Research in this field of "Genomics" will not only result in elaborated forms of prevention and health promotion, but also in new understandings of health, disease and risk, and, moreover, a blurring of traditional borders between food and medicine. The project "Biochemoprevention of colorectal neoplasia" is an outstanding example of scientific research with such an impact. In collaboration with this project, we will study practical and fundamental questions that are provoked by (the results of) research on diet-gene interactions. The objective is to develop general moral principles for prevention programmes in which genetic screening is combinedwith 'tailor-made' dietary advice. This, however cannot be done without taking into account (1) the personal and social meaning of food, after all, our food practices are more than just the efficient intake of biologically necessary nutrition. Furthermore, practical ethical analysis requires (2) reflection on current social controversies about developments in genetics. Analysis of these controversies and common perceptions is necessary in order to foster moral communication on prevention programmes aiming at diet-gene interactions.