Stimulating Preconception Care Uptake by Women With a Vulnerable Health Status Through a Mobile Health App (Pregnant Faster): Pilot Feasibility Study.

Background: A low socioeconomic status is associated with a vulnerable health status (VHS) through the accumulation of health-related risk factors, such as poor lifestyle behaviors (eg, inadequate nutrition, chronic stress, and impaired health literacy). For pregnant women, a VHS translates into a high incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes and therefore pregnancy-related inequity. We hypothesize that stimulating adequate pregnancy preparation, targeting lifestyle behaviors and preconception care (PCC) uptake, can reduce these inequities and improve the pregnancy outcomes of women with a VHS.

Uninformed consent in nutrigenomic research.

Genetic testing for personalizing diet and wellness programs is performed without extensive counseling that informs about the potential implications of knowing one's genotype status. Genetic counseling seems redundant for genes that impact the effect of diet on biomarkers such as cholesterol and blood pressure, but the same genes may have pleiotropic effects that cannot be ignored. A well-known example is the APOE gene, which is implicated in cholesterol regulation and is a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.

The role of disease characteristics in the ethical debate on personal genome testing.

Background: Companies are currently marketing personal genome tests directly-to-consumer that provide genetic susceptibility testing for a range of multifactorial diseases simultaneously. As these tests comprise multiple risk analyses for multiple diseases, they may be difficult to evaluate. Insight into morally relevant differences between diseases will assist researchers, healthcare professionals, policy-makers and other stakeholders in the ethical evaluation of personal genome tests.