Preventive medicine, personalisation, and the power of data

The panel discussion, which took place at Vitafoods Europe 2024, was moderated by Professor Richard Siow, director of Ageing Research at King’s (ARK).

He was joined by James Brown, director of nutrigenetics at Muhdo Health; Dr Michael Sagner, director of the European Society of Preventive Medicine; and Dr Jorg Hager, R&D expert in nutrigenomics at Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences.

Diets are rarely perfect, making supplements important

Siow kicked off by asking the panel if they believed whether supplements are really needed for the average person today.

“I have been flip-flopping on this topic throughout my career,” said Sagner. “The main argument is, if you have a perfect diet, then you don’t need supplementation. But who actually ever achieves a perfect diet?

“I think the argument that we can achieve a perfect diet, resulting in us not needing supplements, is pretty flawed. Obviously, there’s always room to improve our diets, but there is always going to be a place for supplements and optimised nutrition.”

Brown said: “Unfortunately, right now, there is a big trend and demand for a quick fix through processed and packaged foods.

“I see this reflected in the culinary skills in my native UK. People cannot cook any more there and obesity rates are going through the roof as a result. It is not rocket science to figure out why this is happening. We really need to address the fundamental lack of culinary skills, especially in the UK.”

Hager added: “We also have to take into consideration that the needs of individual people are very different. We are an ageing population, and we have to understand that nutritional needs are constantly evolving, so we have to learn from this and tackle the specific personal nutritional needs.”

Personalisation is playing an increasingly big part in diet and supplementation

Personalisation is a path that science and technology are increasingly helping to map out for the health food industry, helping to shape healthier outcomes for many individuals.

“There is a lot going on in the area of personalisation, like blood tests to determine vitamin or mineral deficiency, but that is just a snapshot from a very specific moment in time,” said Brown. “While I might be biased, I believe that epigenetics is at the pinnacle of diagnosis testing because it is so much more nuanced.

“Take, for example, vitamin D levels. You might have high levels in a blood sample but that will not show the body is genetically converting it. Epigenetic testing can determine if the genes exist to metabolise vitamin D.”

Sagner said: “I think this is a massive opportunity for the industry to really create tailored and more precise solutions that will make supplementation very personalised.”

Hager added: “What is crucial to advancing human nutrition is understanding the conversion and absorption of nutrients in the body, which is why the scientific community working in the nutrition space is increasingly moving away from the concept of simply looking at diet.”

Adding to the discussion about greater understanding of human nutrition, Siow, an expert in longevity, shared his thoughts on how gut health can impact life expectancy.

“Longevity starts on day one of life, so we have to think of ageing across the entire lifespan,” he said. “The microbiota that is present during the birth process can have a key impact on health outcomes, for example. And on top of that, even the maternal and paternal diets before conception can have a bearing on longevity.

“This spells different nutritional requirements for every individual, and while personalised nutrition is important, what happens across the lifespan also has a huge bearing on outcomes.”

Using metrics and data to enhance health outcomes

With a huge rise in the volume of consumer data now available, mainly from mobile devices, there are questions around how best to manage and interpret this data for the benefit of consumers.

“Smartphones are obviously the ideal tool for collecting this type of data, but the big question is, how do you extract and then process that data?” asked Hager. “To find out what an individual needs, you must establish a database – and, most importantly, you need longitudinal data because this reflects the pattern of the whole life cycle and how inputs are constantly changing over the course of time.”

Brown said: “I think that while it is crucial to process the data in the right way, we shouldn’t lose sight of the way we communicate the findings with consumers.

“While we have to make the information relatable and easy to understand, we also have to be careful not to dumb it down too much.”

Preventive medicine and longevity science: The next steps

Considering the future of preventive medicine and longevity science, the panel shared some surprisingly simple theories.  

“I think that moving forward, things are going to have to shift from just pushing the boundaries of life expectancy, but also ensuring that quality of life is going to be improved, especially in later years,” said Hager. “On top of this, we are going to need to see more robust science that proves nutritional interventions can have the desired effects on health outcomes.”

“I believe it is simpler than most people think,” said Sagner. “The key to a healthy, longer life is, don’t get sick. I think we are going to realise that it is not about aiming to run a marathon when you’re 90 – it is more about watching your weight, avoiding high blood pressure, and simply not getting sick.”

“Looking to the future, we are going to have more data about health and nutrition, but it is going to be a question of simplifying that data,” said Brown. “While there is a load of data on new anti-ageing nutrients, the main focus should be on vitamin and mineral deficiency, particularly the impact of vitamin D deficiency.”