Dutch researchers develop automated personalized nutrition platform, seeking industry partnerships

28 Feb 2022 --- Researchers in the Netherlands are developing DietBot, which will provide fully automated and personalized dietary advice. Based on consumers’ receipts and food intake, the digital platform creates nutrition plans customized to users’ current individual health status, dietary habits and preferences. 

The project is taking place at the Division of Human Nutrition & Health and Wageningen Food & Biobased Research from Wageningen University & Research (WUR). The researchers are now seeking five to six food and software companies to join its advisory board.

“The advisory board can consist of food producers, consumers and other interested parties who can help us create a better version of this technology and give critical feedback,” Guido Camps, senior researcher at WUR and OnePlanet Research area for nutrition and AI, tells NutritionInsight.

In return for their contributions to the project, partners can offer directions to the research activities and be the first to be informed about the results.Partners will be able to provide guidance around the research activities. 

Harnessing modular methods
The project is currently being developed for application to the NWO Open Technology Program, a Dutch governmental program sponsoring applied research. 

Camps expects the proposal will be submitted in Q2 2022, with the project starting January 1, 2023. The proposed end date is currently December 31, 2026. 

“The end result will be a technological solution allowing AI-based data diet data gathering and automatically generated suggestions for a healthier option,” adds Camps. 

For example, based on the individual measurement of BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol level and an increased risk of heart failure, the advice can be to pay particular attention to eating less saturated fat and eating more specific kinds of vegetables.

The team works with modular methods, so it can keep adding new functionalities to increase the accuracy of the data collection and improve the quality of the generated advice.

Addressing privacy concerns
The researchers are aiming to combine data with the already available services in their personalized dietary advice platform to generate customized alternatives replacing particular food products in a person’s diet.

Secondly, it hopes to investigate methods to make registering food intake data more user-friendly – for example, by uploading personal purchasing data.

Addressing privacy concerns, Camps emphasizes that all technologies will have to be GDPR compliant in order to be legal within the Netherlands. Additionally, WUR has its own privacy officer for participant questions.

“Lastly, the goal of these technologies is to help consumers in decision making, but this can only take place effectively in our view if participants have full ownership and control over their own data at all points,” he adds. The rise of lifestyle-related diseases is highlighting the importance of nutrition. 

Other apps are not competition
The researchers note that there are significant variations in individual responses to food intake, with there also being differences in risk profiles for nutrition-related diseases. Therefore, they argue providing dietary advice on an individual level may lead to more health benefits.

“The current guidance of patients is usually administered by dietitians and other healthcare professionals. Digitalized guidance can significantly extend the reach and impact of dietitians,” say the researchers. 

They also acknowledge that many currently available apps aim to help consumers eat healthier, but this advice is usually based on generalized recommendations.

“We are not looking at other technologies as competition. Rather, we are looking at more effective options to offer the scientific insights gathered at WUR to consumers to help make better choices,” adds Camps.  

One other personalized nutrition app is from UK retailer Sainsbury’s, which enables customized fruit and vegetable intake goals. Meanwhile, Cronometer tracks micronutrients, having recently added capabilities for immunity scores and women’s nutrition targets.

By Katherine Durrell

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