Personalised diet breakthrough could boost industry

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Personalised diet breakthrough could boost industry

Personalised nutrition​ has gained traction in recent years, popular with consumers looking to improve their health through foods and beverages. Such is the appeal of personalised nutrition to consumers, Statista valued the global market at $8.2bn in 2020, predicting the figure to double by 2025.

Now, researchers at Yale University believe they’ve made a breakthrough, which could revolutionise personalised nutrition, increasing its importance and further strengthening its appeal.

How could new research boost personalised nutrition industry?

A Yale Microbial Sciences Institute research team has created the first systematic map, showing how individual gut bacteria interact with dietary molecules. As a result, there is an understanding of how different gut microbes metabolically process various food compounds, and how that process impacts health.

The findings could pave the way for better personalised nutrition, based on how specific microbial genes in an individual’s gut respond to different foods and beverages. It could also address diseases such as diabetes.

This study builds on earlier research examining the effects of medications on gut bacteria. While much is known about the effect of macronutrients like fibre on the gut microbiome, little is known about the effect of other small molecule components in foods and beverages.

“We know that diet is a huge component of our health and shapes our microbiome,” said Elizabeth Culp, a former postdoctoral fellow in the Goodman Lab and first author of the study. “Aside from anecdotal examples in the scientific literature, evidence is scarce regarding which dietary changes people can make to help them manage risk factors for diseases like diabetes or cancer. It is possible this is because our microbiomes respond differently to the same molecules present in food.”

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