Research update

Dietary diversity scores, nutrient intakes and biomarkers B12, folate and haemoglobin in rural youth from the Pune Maternal Nutrition Study

This study was performed in India using a rural youth population, aged 17 years, from the Pune Maternal Nutrition Study (PMNS) (355 boys and 305 girls). It aimed to measure deficiencies of vitamin B12, folate, and hemoglobin. It used the Individual dietary diversity score (IDDS) and the minimum dietary diversity score for women (MDD-W). The results showed "19% were classified as underweight, 57% as B12 deficient (<150pmol/L), and 22% as anemic (<12/13g/dL). Cereals, legumes, and 'other-vegetables' were the most frequently consumed foods. More boys than girls consumed milk, flesh, eggs, and micronutrient-dense foods. Median IDDS 4(3,4 IQR) and MDD-W 6(5,7) were low. Youth with B12 deficiency had a higher likelihood of an IDDS≤4 (1.89 95%CI 1.24,2.87) or a MDD-W ≤5 (1.40 95%CI 1.02, 1.94). Youth with anemia were more likely to have an IDDS ≤4 (1.76 95%CI 1.01,3.14) adjusted for socio-economic scores, body mass index, calorie intake and sex. Folate deficiency was low (3%) and was not associated with either score. Youth with the lowest plasma-B12 and hemoglobin infrequently or never consumed dairy/non-vegetarian foods. The youth that were underweight, had low DDS, and consumed foods low in good quality proteins and micronutrients". This shows that "associations of DDS with circulating micronutrients indicate that DDS is a valid measure to predict B12 deficiency and anemia".

This review shows the relevance of resveratrol (RES) and its relationship with gut microbial activity. The mechanism of inhibition of the growth of pathogenic bacteria.

This double-blind, randomized controlled trial aimed to associate the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in depressive patients with an eight-week supplementation with Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 and Bifidobacterium longum R0175. The group of 110 patients was divided into three groups (probiotic, n = 28; prebiotic and placebo, n = 25). The serum BDNF level was compared at baseline and endpoint. The results show that "post-intervention BDNF levels were significantly different between groups (P < 0.001). Furthermore, BDNF levels increased significantly in the probiotic group compared to both the prebiotic (P < 0.001) and placebo groups (P = 0.021)". The "eight-week supplementation with B. longum and L. helveticus in depressive patients improved depression symptoms, possibly by increasing BDNF levels."

This Korean study aimed to relate the dietary intake of protein and fiber, with the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria linked to a positive effect of exercise on gut microbiota. The population chosen was bodybuilders that consumed an extremely high-protein/low-carbohydrate diet. Firstly, they were randomly assigned to a probiotics intake group (n = 8) - lactobacillus acidophilus, L. casei, L. helveticus, and Bifidobacterium bifidum for 60 days - , and a placebo group (n = 7). The supplement intake did not lead to a positive effect on the gut microbial environment or in the concentration of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Then the 28 bodybuilder group was divided into high-protein/restricted dietary fiber group (n = 12), high-protein/adequate dietary fiber (n = 10), or adequate protein/restricted dietary fiber group (n = 6) and added a group of sedentary male subjects (n = 15). The results "found no significant differences in gut microbial diversity or beneficial bacteria between the high-protein/restricted dietary fiber and healthy sedentary groups. However, when either protein or dietary fiber intake met the KRDA (Korean recommended dietary allowance), the gut microbial diversity and the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria showed significant differences to those of healthy sedentary subjects. These results suggest that the positive effect of exercise on gut microbiota is dependent on protein and dietary fiber intake".

Technology News

Borderlands 3 is using its millions of gamers to help map the human gut microbiome

Borderlands Science is a project that has a game that aims to help the American Gut Project in the treatment of data collected from human stool samples. The game consists of shifting colored blocks between rows and columns to solve puzzles, is in fact, colored blocks and puzzles that represent nucleotides and fragments of microbial 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences. Borderlands Science's true goal is to help artificial intelligence iron out errors when organizing and analyzing those sequences en masse. By compiling the millions of matches that players are making, and then feeding them into a sequencing algorithm. The project aims to build a higher-quality body of data that researchers could someday use to develop novel health or wellness treatments. Approximately, each player completed an average of nearly 40 puzzles for a collective total of 63.2 million total puzzles solved.

 

 Dubai Diabetes Centre exploring effectiveness of virtual health follow-ups using remote devices

A study starting in December, conducted by the Dubai Diabetes Centre (DDC), on 40 diabetic patients. It aims to explore the effectiveness of virtual health follow-ups using home-monitoring devices and mobile technology. The group of patients will be provided with four home-monitoring devices (for blood pressure, blood glucose, heart rate, and pulse and oxygen saturation), with a smart tablet box. This beeps every day when medication is required to be taken. It is linked to a smartphone that has special software that captures all the patient data and automatically sends it to the centre. The data is treated and triaged as green, yellow, or red based on artificial intelligence. The patient will get different treatment according to their needs: Green represents "good results", yellow means that readings are “slightly abnormal” (the patient receives a push notification to take the necessary measures as already advised by healthcare providers), and, red indicates “that the patient needs intervention". Here the patient gets a call from DDC and the healthcare provider can provide a phone consultation or request them to visit the centre for further consultation.

 

Greencovery: Meet the start-up upcycling food side-streams into ingredients

"According to the United Nations, roughly one-third of food products for human consumption is never eaten. This equates to around 1,4bn tonnes of lost or wasted fit-to-eat food. (...) At the same time, the agri-food industry is under pressure to produce more food, with fewer resources''. In a bid to reduce food waste, Dutch start-up Greencovery has developed technology that helps food manufacturers recover valuable compounds from their side-streams. The start-up works in a two-step technology: first allows for target compounds to be recovered in a resin. Second, for the compounds to be liberated using Greencovery's proprietary organic formula. Greencovery is working, currently, on four flavors. The most advanced flavor produced is the banana flavor (natural isoamyl acetate), recovered from the side-stream of vinegar production. It can be used in drinks without affecting any other characteristic, such as color or texture. At the same time, Greencovery has kickstarted the development of a new organic and vegan ingredient for the plant-based meat industry. It’s designed to improve the texture of these products. The other two ingredients in the portfolio are variations of lactic acid.

 

AI tech offers food brands a finger on the pulse of trends

Israeli start-up, Tastewise, has launched its AI-powered food intelligence platform that can offer real-time industry insights on how a consumer orders, cooks and eats. This can be used to help brands with product innovation and market trends. "The Tastewise technology works by scouring over 2,8 billion social interactions, 1,2 million online recipes, localized data of 183,000 restaurants and delivery menus to offer immediate, location-specific food and beverage insights".

 

How can a gig economy of domain experts help you to innovate and launch experiments fast?

This week there was a great post on the Sifted blog looking at how gig economy workers can plug the innovation gap during the COVID period. The blog highlights how many companies are cutting their innovation budgets  and reducing headcount, which can naturally impact innovation plans. The suggested solution is to use external domain experts or professionals who can launch projects or experiments fast which can be done in collaboration with company (in-house) staff. Of course this is what we have done at Qina for a while already, where we create bespoke and agile teams of ecosystem partners to launch projects globally. The benefits of Personalized nutrition should be felt by all.

 

If you are not sure if innovating with external domain experts is for you, give our data brief below a read, which details the reason for why the time is right to look outside company walls for continued growth. Alternatively, you can book a call to discuss your ideas.

 

 

Food & Consumer Trends

Can supermarkets help tackle obesity? ‘Many diet habits start in the grocery store’

The Collaboration for Healthier Lives UK (CHL UK) is a project co-led by Danone and supermarket retailer Tesco, across 35 stores located in Lambeth and Southwark, London. This project aims to change consumer's behavior by changing the store environment. The ultimate ambition being increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables, choosing better alternatives, reducing the calories eaten on products and categories chosen outside of Public Health England's Eatwell Plate. To achieve this, the stores trialed a total of 34 interventions using a range of approaches to improve the healthiness of consumer baskets. In-store trials were prioritized and included changes to pricing and promotions, availability, choice architecture, shelf, and nutritional labeling as well as social feedback techniques.

The results were published in the report "Can supermarkets turn the tide on obesity?" and found that:
- "Companies were able to influence the healthiness of consumer shopping baskets;
- Impactful trials could be relatively simple and commercially sustainable
- Trials that both increase the purchase of healthier foods and decrease the purchase of less healthy foods are required to support healthier diets;
- Trials using pricing and promotional tactics, increasing the availability of healthier options and some choice architecture trials have shown a significant and positive impact.

 

Results from successful trials have resulted in:
•    13% more fruit and vegetables sold
•    72% more low sugar tinned beans sold
•    19% fewer standard chips sold
•    22% fewer packets of confectionery sold"

 

To read the full report

 

 

UK gov now urging vitamin D supplementation in fight against Covid-19

The role of Vitamin D in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 has been a big debate during the last few months, with several studies on the topic. Earlier, the NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) review "COVID-19 rapid evidence summary: vitamin D for COVID-19" reported that "no causal relationship between vitamin D status and COVID-19 was found after adjustment for confounders such as comorbidity, socio-demographics, ethnicity, BMI and other baseline factors''. Now, the UK Parliament advises the intake of vitamin D supplementation supported by the QMU (Queen Mary University of London) clinical trial. This trial called CORONAVIT will run for six months and will enroll over 5,000 people to test the relationship between vitamin D status and COVID-19 severity symptoms. The participants will take part of the trial from their homes with vitamin D tests and supplements sent via post. The trial involves a postal finger prick vitamin D test, which will be processed in an NHS lab. Participants with low vitamin D levels will be given a six month's supply of either 800 or 3200 IU of vitamin D a day. The team will then track the incidence of doctor-diagnosed or laboratory-confirmed acute respiratory infection in the participants to see if vitamin D supplementation has affected the risk and severity of the infection. 

 Dr Google: Getting under the skin of prebiotics

Dr. Google is a microbiome search trend analysis dashboard created by Lumina, and has added the word "prebiotics" to the list of keywords tracked. The interactive dashboard tracks search data from Google Ads Keyword Planner of nearly 900 keywords in the probiotics and prebiotics space.  It found out that in the last 24 months,  the keywords most regularly associated with prebiotics were: kids, dogs, IBS, women's health, constipation, weight loss, baby and skin.

Our very own QinaVer product now tracks keywords in the Personalized nutrition industry!

 

 

Upcoming Events

Food Ingredients

Moderating at Nutrevent 26 & 27th January Lille (France)

ANA Personalized nutrition virtual event 2020 12 -13th November (Online)

Qina is the hub for data and insights in Personalised nutrition. Qina offers the world´s first comprehensive and curated database of Personalised nutrition companies in the industry. Qina has a library of expert content and offers consultancy services for innovation projects.