We Hear A Lot About Personalized Nutrition, But What Is It?

The Lempert Report
August 28, 2020

But What Is It?

Phil Mackie managing partner of food and beverages at Oakland innovation recently told food navigator in an interview that “personalize nutrition needs to follow the signs and increased understanding of the gut microbiome makes good health the primary avenue for the time being. It’s becoming easier for people to understand their own good health and establish a link to their nutritional needs”.

There’s no question that in the past few years a lot of new products and technologies have been marketed around good health but there’re a lot of challenges, mostly in my opinion, around how to communicate to consumers about their gut health. Taking a DNA test is the simple part. Comprehending a 72-100 page report and then taking action on it is the more difficult part.

As we’ve already seen from 23andme, and Habit there is a lot of consumer interest in learning more about how her DNA can affect their health and nutrition. The role a retail dietitian in a supermarket needs to be expanded to include the communication of these types of reports if they will ever become commonplace and useful.

Mackie believes that innovation around personalized nutrition will be increasingly important, as he told Food Navigator. “there are still many challenges to overcome but current market activity indicates that there’s a lot going on behind-the-scenes. This is going to be a significant growth area for the food and beverage industry and players they can put the pieces together first will gain competitive edge.”

He adds that the biggest and most fundamental barrier is the way the current food system operates Mass production models deliver food that is cheap and safe at scale. The question is how can we deliver personalized Foods and beverages.