AI and Nutrition: Transforming the Way We Eat

In an attempt to achieve a healthier life, we’ve practiced traditional dieting approaches. These methods, like crash dieting, strict meal planning, and a one-size-fits-all approach, however, have proven to be ineffective. This is because dieting and weight loss require an individualized plan that considers a patient’s treatment goals, lifestyle habits, medical history, and preferences.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to do just that. Using advanced algorithms and data, AI could blend an individual patient’s needs with science to generate unique meal plans, revolutionizing the way we diet.

The Rise of AI in Nutrition

We’ve heard about the many different applications of AI across almost every industry, but have you ever considered its place in nutrition? Artificial intelligence has the potential to shake up how we view food and meal planning, and it’s only just the beginning.

So, how does it work? When it comes to nutrition, AI will leverage machine learning (ML), which is a process in which systems analyze large amounts of data, interpret the data, and make decisions based on its findings (1). For nutrition, that means AI and ML could evaluate inputs like individual health data, food composition, and dietary habits to generate tailored diet plans and recommendations.

How AI Personalizes Meal Planning

Historically, meal planning was based on overly generalized guidelines like the USDA’s MyPlate and calorie-focused plans (2). While these resources can be a great starting point, they fail to consider individual patient differences that could impact their ability to lose weight or eat certain foods. For example, somebody’s genetics, health conditions, and metabolic rates can all have an effect on how food impacts their body. This one-size-fits all approach is thus not a sustainable way to diet.

AI personalizes meal planning because it considers patient-specific factors. These include things like:

• Genetic data. AI can consider one’s genetics when developing a meal plan, considering things like potential gluten sensitivity and lactose intolerance.
• Lifestyle habits. Things like sleeping habits, activity levels, and daily routines are all important when considering how one’s meals fit into the context of their life.
• Health goals. While many people will diet for weight loss, others will diet to manage conditions like diabetes or to gain muscle. An individual’s goals for meal planning will dictate the recommendations that AI gives.
• Allergies. In analyzing something like a medical record, AI can detect potential allergens and adjust meal plan recommendations accordingly.

There are already so many AI-powered meal planning apps and services available, some interesting ones including:

• ZOE. ZOE is a two-part program that integrates health testing with a continuous membership to help you meal plan. Part one involves an at-home test kit that measures key health indicators like your blood sugar, blood fat, and gut microbiome. Based on your results, the ZOE membership program calculates your “ZOE Scores”, builds meal plans, and gives recommendations so you to eat in a way that makes you feel better (3).
• Nutrisense. Nutrisense is a platform centered around continuous glucose monitoring (CGMs) to track your blood sugar levels. Doing so helps to understand how food and exercise affect your body, providing key insights into how to optimize your nutrition and lifestyle habits (4).
• Bitesnap. Gone are the days of tracking and logging every last food or ingredient you consume throughout the day to count your calories. AI-backed programs like Bitesnap use pictures of your food to estimate the caloric value and log associated nutritional data. Thus, Bitesnap makes calorie counting and dieting easier while saving you time (5).

Benefits of AI-Powered Diet Plans

As you may have already realized, there are so many benefits associated with integrating AI into your nutritional planning. These include:

• Greater accuracy. AI typically works off of large amounts of data to draw conclusions and offer key insights.
• Personalized recommendation. AI allows us to stray from the one-size-fits all approach. Instead, it considers an individual’s unique profile and needs like metabolic health, dietary restrictions, personal preferences, and more, making diets more successful in the long run.
• Real-time adjustments. As you progress in your health journey, you will experience both noticeable and unnoticeable changes that could impact your nutritional requirements. When using technologies such as the Apple Watch, Fitbit, or CGMs, AI can use the most recent, up-to-date data to adapt meal plans using real-time health metrics.
• Increased convenience. Embarking on a journey to better health takes time, energy, and money. However, AI has the potential to cut back on time and money spent on things like meal planning. With Bitesnap, for example, you could save hours over the course of the week because you no longer have to count calories manually and instead can do so with the snap of a picture.
• Improved outcomes. AI is a well-oiled machine that uses large datasets and your unique medical history to generate tailored treatment plans. In doing so, these meal plans become more effective and accessible, allowing you to see better results.

Challenges and Considerations

While the advantages of AI in nutrition are widespread, it doesn’t come without some inherent challenges and risk. The way we see it, the biggest things to consider include:

• Privacy issues. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was put in place to protect the privacy of patient’s health information. While HIPAA is upheld in medical offices and clinical settings, the introduction of AI will present challenges with regards to confidentiality. Personal health data, like biometric and genetic information, must be protected from misuse.
• Accuracy and safety. While AI has the potential to increase accuracy and safety, it still isn’t infallible. There is still a lot of potential for erroneous data interpretation or algorithm design that could result in inappropriate advice. Thus, AI should only be used as a supplemental tool under the guidance of a trusted healthcare professional.
• Accessibility. Most AI-backed tools are pretty expensive, which can limit accessibility to lower income individuals, who are often those most in need of personalized nutrition. For example, Nutrisense’s CGM plans start at $225 monthly but can be as high as $399 monthly, which isn’t affordable for many people.
• Biased algorithms. AI will only be as good as the data that it is trained on. Thus, if the datasets inputted aren’t diverse, its recommendations may not consider cultural, socioeconomic, and regional differences in nutrition needs.

The Role of Professionals

Despite the exciting potential of AI in nutrition, dieticians and nutritionists will continue to be integral to reaching your health and wellness goals when it comes to food. The human touch is critical in medicine, providing critical thinking skills, empathy, and nuanced judgement that you can’t necessarily get from artificial intelligence.

Instead of outright replacing nutritionists, AI can augment their practice. For example, AI can help automate traditionally time-consuming responsibilities such as tracking nutrient intake or analyzing metabolic data. In return, dieticians can spend more time counseling patients, answering their questions, and providing strategic recommendations aligned with their treatment goals and needs.

Additionally, like we mentioned earlier, AI isn’t perfect. We still need nutritionists and dieticians to consider the context of AI-generated conclusions or recommendations and address any biases or inaccuracies.

Future Trends and Innovations

We’ve discussed some of the current advancements in AI and nutrition, but there are many opportunities on the horizon to look out for. Some of our favorite prospects include:

• Gut microbiome integration. “Gut health” has become more and more popularized in recent years – and rightly so. Our gut, particularly the microbiome within, is a critical component to our overall health, affecting everything from digestion to mood. AI has the ability to assess gut function and make recommendations accordingly.
• Predictive nutrition. AI could predict potential health problems when analyzing patient data and suggest dietary changes to help prevent these down the line.
• Wearables. We’ve already seen the impact that technologies like the Apple Watch and Fitbit have made on our fitness goals, but what if they could enhance our nutrition too? Future wearables equipped with AI may be able to detect vitamin deficiencies, stress levels, and hydration, all of which can provide key insights into your health.
• Voice-activated nutrition assistants. In the future, we may see virtual assistants similar to the Amazon Alexa that can suggest recipes based on the ingredients you have in your fridge.

Conclusion

AI is making strides across the healthcare industry, changing the way we test, diagnose, treat, move, and eat. AI has already begun shaking up the world of nutrition, giving way to the possibility of more tailored meal plans and improved health outcomes as a result. Though the future looks bright, we must also consider the challenges of maintaining patient confidentiality, accuracy and safety, and accessibility when implementing AI into our practice. The professional guidance of nutritionists and dieticians will still be paramount as we enter this new phase of personalized nutrition.

References

1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8633405/
2. https://www.myplate.gov/
3. https://zoe.com/how-it-works
4. https://www.nutrisense.io/
5. https://getbitesnap.com/

Author

David J. Bauder, PA-C David Bauder, PA-C, is a certified physician assistant and the assistant medical director at Weight Loss and Vitality in Manassas and Alexandria, Virginia, Washington, DC; and Gaithersburg, MD. He enjoys helping patients optimize their physical and mental health to improve their overall well-being. He earned his physician assistant degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Afterward, he gained admission into the reputable graduate program for physician assistant studies at the University of Nebraska Health Science Center in Omaha. David has over 26 years of experience working as a physician assistant. He’s practiced in podiatry, family medicine, emergency medicine, general surgery, urgent care, and functional medicine.