Technology Now Enables Consumers to have Clarity on the Science Backing Nutritional Claims
We all know that a good night’s sleep and eating healthy enables us to perform at our best, but when it comes to what eating healthy means, there is overwhelming confusion for many, as noted in this report by FoodInsight.org. We can all agree that food is meant to be nourishing.
Yet the marketplace is saturated, pardon the pun, with crafty marketing messages, misinformation, and celebrity endorsements that lack clinical backing. The result according to the report is the food industry has one of the lowest levels of public trust. On the flip side, trust in science and medical professionals remains among the highest of any sector.
The culinary science of food is no different than developing software, growing a start-up, or even building relationships. The sum of the input, be it food ingredients, data, or a skilled team, will determine the quality of the output. Since food is the fuel that powers our extremely complex human system, the impact of good or bad nutrition is critical.
According to the Lancet, poor quality diets pose a greater risk to morbidity and mortality when compared to unsafe sex, alcohol, drugs, and tobacco used combined. Highlighting the need for improved diets is further substantiated in another Lancet study, whose authors call for the implementation of evidence-based dietary interventions.
Clinical Science Combined with AI Creates New Food Scoring System
Food is the foundation of our well-being because what we put in ourselves affects our physical and mental health, as well as fuels the work of our bodies and brains. As consumers, we suffer from a lack of transparent standards based on clinical science, making food labelling and nutrition education extremely difficult. Project Healthy Human is on a mission to rectify this by combining a clinical team with a combined 200+ years experience with machine learning to develop a clearly understood scoring algorithm easily recognizable and comprehendible to consumers allowing them to personalize their nutritional choices.
We call this “Food Created By Doctors and Chefs”. It is a scoring system to quantitatively assesses food products for the nutritional value, the manufacturing process, and the clinical and health implications of consumption. By making this knowledge easily accessible, our intent is to create better health outcomes through better nutritional choices.
Food Manufacturers can now be Certified with the “Doctors and Chef’s” Program
Products that are certified by the “Doctors and Chefs” program will receive a score out of 10 based on the products health impact, manufacturing process, and nutritional components. An essential part of the mission is to support brands and manufacturers, which is why we chose to develop an algorithm. The machine learning allows the system to consider and weigh hundreds of factors in relation to the guidelines set by the independent Health and Wellness Advisory Board, making it efficient and affordable for producers, while creating an easily understood metric for consumers.
Big Data Creates Transparency and Simplicity for Consumers
The ultimate goal is to pair big data with ethical practices in a way that is accessible and affordable for companies to participate in, and transparent and simple for consumers to understand and act upon. Achieving this will create a marked positive impact on the health of Canadian families and the businesses they support.
As the project grows, machine learning will enable us to better predict the impact of food consumption. It will allow us to better personalize lifestyle and nutrition choices bringing the personalized medicine and “omics” approaches to food in an accessible way – “Genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics are rapidly transforming our approaches to the detection, prevention, and treatment of foodborne pathogens.” (Science Direct) In addition, the accessibility and transparency will promote the healthiest production and manufacturing practices and create more trust in the food industry.
Personalization and Precision Guides Food as Medicine, and Disease Prevention
For many years, medicine has been moving towards a more personalized or precision-based approach, where an individual’s data is used to guide treatment and patient management strategies. Clinically we are observing a more significant relationship between food and clinical disease, and it is imperative that we leverage data to develop the right and validated tools centred on disease prevention. An ounce of prevention is worth a kilo of a cure. We just need to ensure that we are giving consumers food that is nutritious, food that is restorative and contributes to your well being. By uniting, we are excited and convinced that we can work together as a community to bring about this much needed change.
To learn more about getting your food product certified, or how the “Doctors and Chefs’ program can work for you, go to Project Healthy Human.
Dr. Anthony Marotta, Ph.D. is a serial entrepreneur and an Adjunct Professor in the Division of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. Marotta has co-founded several companies including Augurex and Peqish Food Company. Project Healthy Human combines Marotta’s passion for food and enabling good health with his scientific and business expertise.
Photo by Anna Pelzer on Unsplash
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