How big food brands are embracing digital trials
Our skies have turned a peachy-pink from the sand blasted from the south, it's quite amazing. We have plenty of news to share this week so tuck in!
In this week's newsletter: An opportunity to work with us on an innovative project, latest research, Brightseed discovers new compound in hemp, Nourished 3D gummies develop a stack for oral health, Clear health raises another round, Sunbasket teams up with Diet ID and plenty of very interesting new resources.
Happy reading!!
Mariette
CEO & Founder of Qina
Project opportunity with QinaVer
Earlier this month we launched QinaVer our text analytics solution that uses natural language processing to find hidden patterns and trends in your text documents. Text documents can include product reviews, customer feedback, interview transcripts, survey data, or video recordings.
We are currently looking for interesting and innovative projects to build use cases for QinaVer.
If you are sitting on content that you have not (text) analysed yet, or you have a question you would like to have answered pertinent to your business right now, let’s talk!
Here are some examples for inspiration
- “why do customers choose my competitors over my brand?”
- “what features should I prioritize for my solution and why?”
- “which nutrition and health topics are most important to my target group right now?”
- Don’t waste resources, you'll be surprised, the answers are already within you (or in your documents)
Terms & conditions apply.
For more information about Qina Ver sign up for a free account.
Research update
Microbiota Composition in Healthy Volunteers—A Real-Life, Retrospective Study of a Cohort That Participated in a Digital Nutrition Program
This study demonstrates that BENEO ingredients support a personalized nutrition approach. The ingredients quoted are carbohydrate Palatinose™ (isomaltulose) and the prebiotic fiber Orafti®Synergy1 (prebiotic inulin-type fructans (ITF). The 117 participants underwent six test days with sweetened drinks (isomaltulose vs. sucrose) consumed with their usual breakfasts and lunches. Dinner was supplemented with ITF for 11 days. The results show that both ingredients improve blood glucose control, and Orafti®Synergy1/(prebiotic inulin-type fructans (ITF) beneficially modulates gut microbiota through a significant increase in beneficial bifidobacteria.
Effects of a 13-Week Personalized Lifestyle Intervention Based on the Diabetes Subtype for People with Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes
This study shows that diabetes subtyping and subsequent tailored lifestyle interventions in a primary care setting are more effective in improving T2DM-related parameters than usual care. By comparing the control and intervention groups, the results show "bodyweight and HbA1c were significantly reduced after 13 weeks of intervention, whilst no changes in these markers were seen with usual care. Additionally, the improvements in health status were maintained up to two years after the intervention".
The economic value of targeting aging
This study shows that a compression of morbidity that improves health is more valuable than further increases in life expectancy and that targeting aging offers potentially larger economic gains than eradicating individual diseases. In numbers: "a slowdown in aging that increases life expectancy by 1 year is worth US$38 trillion, and by 10 years, US$367 trillion".
Health Literacy, Numeracy, and Health Promotion: A Secondary Analysis of the Choosewell 365 Workplace Trial
This study was performed on hospital employees and compared the ChooseWell 365 (a 12-month intervention using nudges and feedback to promote healthier choices, building on existing cafeteria traffic light labels (e.g., green=healthy, red=unhealthy) with tools for health literacy measurement. The results show: "Intervention participants increased healthy purchases over 24 months compared with controls in both higher and lower health literacy and numeracy groups. At 12 months, Healthy Eating Index 2015 scores increased in the intervention versus control participants with lower health literacy but not in those with higher health literacy".
Technology News
Colgate x Nourished NUTRISTACKS
Developed in partnership with Colgate, Nourished presents the 3D printed chewie NutriStacks. Made with scientifically backed ingredients and 12 patented technologies, the 3D chews ensure 99.5% or more of the nutritional value customers need. The monthly supply costs £28, is made in the UK, and customers can buy Nutristacks according to their goal (energy, immunity, mental health, for example) or personalize their vitamins by taking a 2-minute consultation. The 3D-printed chewie is made with arginine, xylitol, calcium, and whole health supplements.
Related Articles:
Brightseed discovers compounds in waste hemp hulls that could help fight fatty liver disease
The US-based company Brightseed, through their AI- platform, Forager, has discovered phytochemicals (N-trans-caffeoyltyramine (NCT) and N-trans-feruloyltyramine (NFT) in waste hemp seed shells that could be used to treat metabolic health problems. “The studies found that certain doses of NCT and NFT “triggered a total body reset in mice fed a high-fat diet,” while also leading to reduced liver fat, regulated lipid levels, restored healthy organ function, reduced body weight gain, and reduced liver inflammation in the animals. It also showed increased insulin levels in human cells, “signaling a resetting and restoring of metabolism from poor to healthy.” The Brightseed team believes that NCT and NFT could be used in the not-too-distant future to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) – and potentially other metabolic conditions, too”.
Related Articles:
Clear raises another € 1 million for diabetes self-help tool and launches in Rotterdam
The Clear app analyzes glucose levels through the sensor to detect individual responses to food. Users receive real-time personalized nutritional advice, via the app and a real coach. They can then adjust their meals to improve blood sugar levels and prevent lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes. These days, Clear has announced a successful financing round of 1 million euros with food & agriculture VC Future Food Fund, a number of prominent angels, and the Rabobank.
Related Articles:
The top 3 behaviour change techniques used by personalised nutrition innovators
PNU 33.2021: Amsterdam-based Clear raises €1.1M to help people deal with type 2 diabetes; here’s how
Easy Vitamin Plan Teams Up with Walmart to Offer Personalized Vitamin Plans
“Easy Vitamin Plan, a respected personalized vitamin subscription program, is teaming up with Walmart to offer customers, for the first time, personalized vitamins delivered to their doorsteps. Simply go to The Wellness Hub on Walmart.com to link to Easy Vitamin Plan and complete a brief nutritional assessment that identifies a blend of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients tailored to each individual's needs. Those vitamins are then packaged in convenient daily packs, making them easier to remember and easier to take.”
Zitamine is launching the first personalized nutrition service in Romania
Zitamine is the first Romenia-based personalized nutrition service and offers a subscription to natural vitamins based on a personalized recommendation. The recommendation is generated by an algorithm that determines the unique nutritional profile of each customer. The vitamins are wrapped in personalized packaging with the daily dosage, with the help of modern equipment destined to the medical industry, and are delivered monthly, to the customer’s door.
Sunbasket and DietID deliver first end to end solutions as part of Food as medicine movement
Diet ID a personalised nutrition assessment and recommendation platform recently partnered with meal-kit company Sunbasket to deliver fresh, healthy and nutritionally prescribed meals to manage and treat chronic diseases.
Food & Consumer Trends
Social media crackdown: Let's challenge the role of influencers in junk food marketing
Spain is proposing a new law as an example of action against obesity among the Spanish population, more specifically against child obesity. Spain is proposing to ban influencers, famous sportspeople, and television presenters from advertising food or drink that are high in fat, salt, or sugar (HFSS) to children. According to a 2020 study, some 34% of the Spanish population between 3 and 24 is overweight or obese. An epidemic across the globe.
The New Rules of Data Privacy
This Harvard Bussiness review quotes new rules of the data economy, that companies should prioritize these days: (1) Trust over transactions. This rule is all about consent. "Firms need to consistently cultivate trust with customers, explaining in common-sense terms how their data is being used and what’s in it for them". (2) Insight over identity. "Firms need to re-think not only how they acquire data from their customers but from each other as well. (...) The co-design of algorithms and data can facilitate the process of insight extraction by structuring each to better meet the needs of the other. As a result, rather than moving data around, the algorithms exchange non-identifying statistics instead". (3): Flows over silos. This last rule flows from the first two, and doubles as a new organizing principle for internal data teams. Once all your customer data has meaningful consent and you are acquiring insight without transferring data, CIOs and CDOs no longer need to work in silos, with one trying to keep data locked up while the other is trying to break it out. Instead, CIOs and CDOs can work together to facilitate the flow of insights, with a common objective of acquiring maximum insight from consented data for the customer’s benefit".
European AI week is happening now
This week kicked off with the European AI week. There are fascinating talks and workshop on various topics relating to AI from sustainability to my favourite topic ethics. Do dial in by clicking the image below.
Resources
A podcast to connect metabolomics scientists through their stories
"The Metabolomist is a podcast for metabolomics researchers to connect with like-minded scientists and explore the unspoken issues in metabolomics research. (...) Each episode invites metabolomics experts – the “metabolomists” – to share their experiences and stories to enable the whole community to perform better metabolomics".
2021 Global Nutrition Report
“The 2021 Global Nutrition Report (GNR) offers the world’s most comprehensive picture of the state of global nutrition and assesses the scale of the challenges faced in the fight to tackle poor diets and malnutrition in all its forms. This year’s report provides a concise data-focused update on the state of diets and nutrition around the world. The report’s findings lay bare the unsustainability of the status quo and how we continue to face a global nutrition crisis. Poor diets and resulting malnutrition in all its forms are unacceptably high across the world, creating one of the world’s greatest current societal challenges”.
Upcoming Events
Food Innovation and Investment Summit, Kisaco Research, San Francisco, California, 18-19 May 2022
Personalized nutrition summit - ANA, San Diego 26-29 October