The epigenetic state of individuals is most relevant for health and disease prevention. Epigenetics are modifications (such as methylation or acetylation) of DNA and chromatin with no changes in the DNA sequence, which affects the phenotype. Nutrient deficiency and bioactive food components are examples of factors affecting the epigenetic state. The aim of present thesis work was to investigate if the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be used to find food components that alter the epigenome. S. cerevisiae is widely used as a model organism because of the high conservation in many genes between yeast and humans. S. cerevisiae CBS 7764 was cultivated in zinc deficiency or with resveratrol (grape polyphenol), and the death rate in H2O2 after recovery in full media/without resveratrol was determined. Zinc deficiency and resveratrol have previously been shown to have epigenetic effects. An altered sensitivity against oxidative stress was indicated as a change in the epigenome. Both zinc deficiency and resveratrol treatment were shown to give an increased sensitivity against H2O2 compared with the control culture. The change in the zinc deficiency culture was shown to be reversible, which is indicative of epigenetic modulation and not mutations. This indicates that S. cerevisiae can be used as a model organism to find food components with epigenetic effects, but the method needs further evaluation.