When Anat Ben-Amotz began drinking a daily shake made from Mankai, a tiny green aquatic plant, she didn’t know it would become a lifeline for her genetic profile. As a carrier of the high-risk TT genotype of the MTHFR gene—a variant affecting over 10% of the global population—Anat’s body naturally struggles to process folate, increasing her risk for cardiovascular disease and metabolic dysfunction. But within 18 months on the Green Mediterranean diet, her cardiovascular risk score dropped by 7.74 points, a shift mirrored in dozens of others like her in a groundbreaking clinical trial led by Prof. Iris Shai of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
This study, published in Clinical Nutrition and conducted in collaboration with Leipzig University and Harvard, reveals that nutrition can act as an “epigenetic pencil,” rewriting how our genes behave—especially when they come with inherited weaknesses. The Green Mediterranean diet, rich in green tea, walnuts, and a daily 100g Mankai shake, was designed to supercharge one-carbon metabolism, the cellular engine behind DNA methylation and gene regulation. Unlike standard healthy eating guidelines or even the traditional Mediterranean diet, the Green-MED version boosted serum folate levels significantly, creating a biochemical ripple effect.
Participants on the Green-MED diet saw not only a rise in folate but also a 25% improvement in insulin sensitivity (measured by HOMA-IR), a 15% reduction in the inflammatory marker IL-6, and marked declines in visceral and liver fat. Most strikingly, transcriptomic analysis of blood samples showed that individuals with the TT genotype activated alternative genetic pathways—specifically increasing expression of MTHFD2 and DHFR genes—to compensate for their impaired MTHFR enzyme activity. This biological reprogramming allowed their cells to use dietary folate more efficiently, effectively bypassing a lifelong metabolic handicap.
For TT carriers who didn’t adhere to the Mankai-rich diet, the story was different: their cardiovascular risk scores climbed. But those who embraced the full Green-MED protocol saw not just clinical improvements, but molecular proof that food can modulate genetic fate. The Framingham Risk Score reduction of 7.74 points among compliant TT carriers is comparable to the benefit seen with some preventive medications—yet achieved through nutrition alone.
These findings mark a turning point in Nutri-Omics, the science of how nutrients interact with our genome. They suggest that personalized diets could one day be prescribed to counteract genetic vulnerabilities, turning dietary choices into targeted therapies. As research expands, Mankai—a once obscure plant cultivated in desert aquaculture systems in Israel—may emerge as a cornerstone of precision nutrition, proving that sometimes, the most powerful medicine comes not from a pharmacy, but from a green shake.