Artificial Intelligence May Be Able to Help Determine the Best Diets for Everyone

CNN: What are we eating? How can we improve our health?

Nicastro -Poor Diet is one of the most important causes of death and preventable disease in the world and a major driver of healthcare costs. How we eat can have a significant impact on our health, growth, development, risk, severity, and overall well-being. Over 40% of adults are obese or overweight worldwide, 30% are hypertensive, and there are other chronic diseases linked to diet. Recent studies show that one fifth of all deaths can be attributed a poor diet. It is possible to improve the health of the entire world by changing our diets.

We would see improvement if everyone followed the Dietary Guidelines For Americans.

These guidelines focus on consuming foods rich in nutrients, limiting added sugars, saturated oils, and sodium. This one-size-fits all approach is only a partial solution. In almost all nutrition intervention studies, there is some variation in the responses of participants. Patients and consumers are seeking more tailored solutions.

CNN: I’m convinced! When will the public have access to custom-made dietary advice?

Nicastro is Precision Nutrition is currently in practice. Based on a person’s health history and/or health goals, clinical practitioners may make different recommendations. A recommendation for someone trying to manage diabetes may look different than one for someone who is looking to gain muscle mass.

Over the next few years, nutrition advice will become more precise. Short term, we will have more data points to produce more targeted recommendations. In the long-term, I expect to see NPH predictive factors being used by health care professionals during their standard intake. This could involve patients using new technology such as smart toilets and continuous glucose monitors to analyze their stool microbial composition, or it could be a simple genetic signature test.

To reap the full benefits from precision nutrition, we must first understand and overcome any obstacles to following dietary recommendations. Precision nutrition should be based on simple dietary recommendations that can not only optimize someone’s health but are also easy to follow depending on an individual’s resources, lifestyle, preferences and abilities.