There is no shortage of nutrition advice and programs that are advertised as being beneficial to everyone. Such claims are not always true, not necessarily because of dishonesty but due to a lack of understanding of the differences in biology from person to person.
To look into this situation, the National Institutes of Health has instituted a large study called “Nutrition for Precision Health, powered by the All of Us Research Program.”
“The NPH program will build on recent advances in biomedical science including artificial intelligence (AI), microbiome research, as well as the infrastructure and large, diverse participant group of the All of Us Research Program. These advances provide unprecedented opportunities to generate new data to provide insight into personalized nutrition also referred to as precision nutrition.“
Researchers have begun enrolling participants to take part in the study at 14 sites across the U.S., and plan to include information from one million participants.
According to NPR’s reporting on this program:
Holly Nicastro of the NIH Office of Nutrition Research says the goal of the precision nutrition study is to help develop tailored approaches for people. “We’ll use machine learning and artificial intelligence to develop algorithms that can predict how individuals will respond to a given food or dietary pattern,” Nicastro says.
The study will take into account a person’s genetics, gut microbes, and other lifestyle, environmental and social factors “to help each individual develop eating recommendations that improve overall health,” Nicastro says.
Research has already shown that metabolic differences between individuals can mean that different people eating the same meal can have different responses to those same foods.
Understanding the underlying factors could lead to vastly improved information of what foods are best for each of us on a personal level.
Of course, there are some aspects of nutrition and digestion that apply to everyone, fundamentals that are explained in many of the articles in our library. Combining that knowledge with an understanding of individual differences holds the promise of enabling everyone to be more successful in charting their course to a healthier life.
