Developing personalised diets to combat obesity and diabetes A new nutrition platform aims to make diet recommendations for individuals a reality. Health © alicja neumiler/stock.adobe.com With the wide variety of food choices available today, it can be difficult for individuals to know what’s best for them to eat. Food choices, particularly in early life, can have a significant impact on the development of diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Personalised nutrition is an emerging field that tailors dietary recommendations to an individual’s unique genetic, metabolic, microbiomic and lifestyle factors. In the EU-funded NUTRISHIELD project, researchers developed an innovative framework to help people make better nutrition choices, including a platform based on a novel algorithm. NUTRISHIELD focused on young populations with obesity and/or diabetes, mothers of premature infants and primary schoolchildren. “In the future, the NUTRISHIELD algorithm could provide personalised nutritional advice based on the specific genomic and gut microbiome profile of each single child,” explains Miltos Vasileiadis, business developer at Alpes Lasers and principal investigator on the NUTRISHIELD project. “This will enhance the personalised dimension of the approach and will enhance the chances of a therapeutic effect,” he adds. Innovative clinical trials The NUTRISHIELD project ran a series of experimental evaluations, to gather data needed to create the platform. In the first clinical study, the team collected data from three cohorts of children with obesity and/or diabetes. They analysed urine, faeces and blood samples to reveal microbiome composition and the degree of gut inflammation – biomarkers of gut barrier integrity. The second study focused on lactating mothers and their premature infants, to investigate the effect of maternal nutrition on human milk composition and how this affects health outcomes of prematurely born babies. “Sample analysis was performed employing state-of-the-art laboratory techniques in combination with newly developed, laser-based tools,” says Vasileiadis. “One of the success stories of the present project is the use of infrared laser spectroscopy for the quantification of specific protein subfractions present in human milk.” A third study explored the connection between nutrition, gut metabolism and the neural development of spatial cognition in primary schoolchildren. This involved novel tools such as breath analysis, which can provide detailed information on gut metabolism. Providing nutritional advice The team’s nutritionist analysed the diet of diabetic and obese children, and using the NUTRISHIELD approach developed a personalised diet to enhance dietary habits that promote a healthy gut microbiome. The project also shed light on how certain vitamins evolve during the first month after birth, possibly relating to infant needs and the establishment of metabolic capabilities. Another key development was to build a profile of Bifidobacterium, a key gut microbe, among preterm and control babies. “We clearly identified trends for what constitutes a ‘healthy Bifidobacterium balance’ in newborns at each phase of their early life,” notes Vasileiadis. Developing the NUTRISHIELD platform Through the project, the team created a NUTRISHIELD platform to offer personalised nutrition advice, consisting of three interconnected tools. The NUTRISHIELD dashboard gathers and analyses nutritional information with an algorithm and is intended for nutritionists and other health professionals. The NUTRISHIELD Clinical Trial App (CTA) is a tailored tool used by health professionals to gather all the necessary information from the patients, mainly in the form of questionnaires. The NUTRISHIELD app can be run on a smartphone and engages the user in following the dietary plan. “This is an efficient and fun way to deliver a personalised dietary plan to a child,” says Vasileiadis. Keywords NUTRISHIELD, app, nutrition, advice, obesity, diabetes, children, babies, vitamins, gut microbiome
