In the digital age, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a transformative force in many sectors, including the food industry. Notably, AI has become an important tool in detecting and fulfilling people’s individual nutritional needs as we grocery shop. In recent months, the impact of data on retail processes has transformed the consumer experience by enabling more informed and personalized nutritional decision-making, with the aim of encouraging people to live healthier lifestyles. According to the World Health Organization, chronic diseases such as diabeteshigh blood pressure and cancer pose a global health threat due to their increasing prevalence and high mortality rates. They kill more than 41 million people worldwide every year 74 percent of all deaths worldwideand they are becoming more and more common. Prevention and proper treatment are both essential to reduce its impact on society. Scientific studies are unanimous on the importance of a healthy lifestyle to combat these diseases, with good nutrition and dietary habits being crucial.
CONSTANT PRODUCT ANALYSIS TAILORED TO OUR NEEDS
One of AI’s biggest selling points in filling our shopping carts is its ability to continuously analyze products in real time. AI systems can scan food labels, ingredients and nutritional values and provide detailed information about each item. This on-site scanning allows consumers to choose products and ingredients that meet their specific nutritional needs.
AI also relies on past data, such as previous purchases and food preferences, to tailor recommendations at the time of purchase. There are tools available that can predict and respond to consumers’ changing needs by suggesting healthier alternatives or products that could complement their current diet. This customization not only saves time, but also promotes a more balanced, tailor-made diet. It is also essential that these new technologies alert consumers to possible allergies, dietary restrictions or even overconsumption of certain nutrients. Meanwhile, consumers can receive real-time suggestions on the best way to balance their diet, along with healthier alternatives or nutritional supplements that can benefit their health.
FROM HEALTHY EATING TO DISEASE PREVENTION AND CONTROL
The value of artificial intelligence is not limited to supermarkets and other stores; it can also be linked to personal devices such as smartwatches and virtual assistants to provide personalized reminders and tracking. Users can receive customized alerts when their body needs certain nutrients or reminders to stay hydrated, contributing to a healthier and more conscious lifestyle. As technology evolves, we can anticipate a future where AI not only senses our nutritional needs but also guides us to a healthier lifestyle.[1]
An AI platform has been developed that is capable of tracking information about physiological parameters of various electronic devices (especially wristbands and smartwatches), triggering an alert if a parameter moves out of the healthy range, and providing specific nutritional recommendations on the best way to get wrong parameters back into line. The aim is to prevent the onset of chronic diseases among the healthy population and support their treatment through non-pharmacological solutions for those already affected. In particular, we have launched two tools that support each other and help prevent and manage chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. The scientific community largely believes that the prevention and treatment of these diseases should not be exclusively pharmacological in nature, but should also include changes in lifestyle habits, especially when it comes to diet. It is not surprising that more and more studies show that the type of food we consume has a decisive effect on the onset and progression of chronic diseases.[2]
HealthGuard™ is a solution for the prevention and management of chronic diseases that relies on neural networks to exploit information about physiological parameters generated by various electronic devicesespecially wristbands and smartwatches. The app keeps track of the values of these parameters and signals significant changes. These changes do not necessarily mean that the values have reached a more sinister range that is considered pathological; Even if these values are still within the range considered normal, the app can detect trends over time that, if they last longer, could indeed push the values into pathological territory. HealthGuard™ is able to interpret such abnormalities and classifies them as a potential risk of occurrence in a particular therapeutic category.
The tool not only identifies risks at an early stage, but also makes specific nutritional recommendations and suggests healthy lifestyle habits to correct such deviations in a simple and attractive way using a second product: NutriGuard™. This app uses deep neural networks to exploit all existing scientific knowledge in specialized areas (databases created and managed by prestigious bodies within the international scientific community, as well as high-impact scientific literature) and to explore the physiological effect of the different molecular compounds determine. components of food. By scanning all this information, it can suggest foods that can produce a physiological effect and thus correct any deviation from what it considers healthy parameters.
Today, there are numerous sources of information available for people who want to take good care of their health and prevent or manage chronic diseases such as those mentioned earlier, although it is very difficult to fact-check this information. Fads and ‘self-interest’ advice that is not really based on science can often have catastrophic health consequences. The average citizen simply does not have access to consistently reliable and medically robust information.
Innovation and health will come together in the supermarket of tomorrow. We will be able to buy products tailored to our nutritional needs, which will be determined by our own vital parameters measured in real time. Paradoxically, that morning has already arrived thanks to artificial intelligence.
Carlos Galmarini, CEO of Topazium
References
[1] A. Doherty et al. (2021) Front. Genet. 12:768979
[2] D. Dicker et al. (2018). The Lancet 392: 1684