AI-powered peptides primed to shake up nutrition, says Nuritas CEO

20 Jan 2022 --- Peptides will surpass the field of proteins. This is according to Dr. Nora Khaldi, founder and CEO of Nuritas, who speaks to NutritionInsight about how the biotechnology company develops peptide knowledge bases through artificial intelligence (AI) systems and genomics.

“Our partners worldwide realize the peptide potential and that this area can only grow. On the customer side, more understanding of the formulation, positioning and claims through peptides will lead to widening application and ultimately better consumer solutions,” Khaldi explains.

Notably, the Nuritas Peptide Finder (Nπϕ) predicts and unlocks bioactive ingredients found in plants and natural food sources.

“We use AI, machine learning, peptidomics, tailored production, biological testing and fingerprinting to go through each plant and food on a global scale and identify the hidden health benefits,” she adds.

“The peptides found by the Nπϕ system offer a range of benefits to people, pets and the planet. These include anti-aging, muscle strength and glucose management.”

The potential of peptides
While end consumers are already familiar with peptides in the collagen and cosmetics world, industry has only scraped the surface with the potential of peptides, notes Khaldi.

The potential of peptides is becoming established in the medical field, observes Khaldi.Nuritas leverages the power of AI and bioinformatics to target, predict and unlock bioactive peptides.

“Approximately 60 pharmaceuticals on the market are peptide drugs, including the peptide insulin and its derivatives.”

Despite being known for their efficacy, safety and target precision compared to small molecules, they have had weaknesses due to their stability and half-life, both of which are now addressable through technologies.

“For example, we can now predict more orally available peptides or cell-penetrating ones,” adds Khaldi.

Demand for healthier products
Technology is a crucial part of the modern food industry. In the era of the conscious consumer, there has been a surge of alternative foods and health products entering the market, she continues.

To cater to this “ever-changing” environment, Nuritas provides its partners with solutions by combining nutrition with precision, replacing harmful ingredients and additives and replacing animal-based ingredients with sustainable plant-based components.

The company’s partners include Nestlé, Mars, Sumitomo Chemical, Metagenics and Pharmavite.

Locating molecules that may prevent diseases
According to Khaldi, bioactive peptides from foods are valuable functional agents in healthy diets that can prevent and treat diseases. 

“The Nπϕ technology can now unlock the potential of the bioactive peptides in food to provide various health solutions.”AI helps to decipher data in natural food sources and understand how those interact with our bodies.

In finding molecules that may prevent diseases, Khaldi states: “Using our technology we create mixtures of bioactive peptides from various natural food sources. We do this by releasing the peptides from their mother proteins through food hydrolysis or fermentation. This allows us to create a complete new set of new health benefits that consumers will not obtain by simply consuming the natural food source.”

Khaldi details that the Nuritas platform can identify and develop new bioactive compounds within months rather than years, expediting the discovery process and surpassing traditional methods. As a result, this process significantly reduces costs.

Understanding PeptiStrong and PeptiYouth
Nuritas will continue rolling out its two flagship products, PeptiStrong and PeptiYouth, in 2022.

PeptiStrong improves the body’s ability to make and keep muscle in fundamental ways and addresses needs across the health continuum. It benefits sports recovery, general muscular health, healthy aging and strength maintenance at all ages.

PeptiYouth, on the other hand, focuses on skin health and healthy aging. It improves cellular regeneration with a unique double action which increases cellular matrix reconstruction and reduces inflammation.

The “data” found in food
Khaldi gives insight into the data found in food and how this will shift the health space.

“Nature has found a solution through millions of years of iteration to most imbalances, from imbalances that can cause the onset of health problems, to molecular solutions that can offer a species an advantage over another which are shaped by a continuous arm race.” 

The issue here is that industry has not explored this molecular potential, Khaldi explains.

“Many of the current ingredients in food, personal care and dietary supplements are discovered by chance and then targeted to a specific consumer need. The power of data in food will reverse engineer this.”

Data will enable companies to find a clear consumer need, thus making the ingredients more targeted, precise and productive, she explains.

“By accessing the peptides found in food – via our Nπϕ platform – we can identify parts of a plant that have been lost, unlocking the power of nature to discover and develop active ingredients that help transform the health of people.”

Nuritas previously acquired US$45 million to grow its peptide discovery platform globally and scale it.

By Nicole Kerr