New developments in artificial intelligence are revolutionizing the delivery of personalized nutrition solutions, which are becoming an ever bigger part of the sports and active nutrition scene. AI can learn and model linear and nonlinear relationships between variables by constructing input-output mapping that reveals information that would otherwise remain unknown.
“The generic, ‘one-size-fits-all’ guidelines for sports nutrition neglect significant individual differences in nutrient processing and will not allow an individual to optimize their sports performance. The ability of AI to develop personalized nutritional needs assessments and then analyze which ingredients have the highest effectiveness and lowest risk for an individual, opens the doors to highly personalized nutrition products and services,” said Ali Mostashari, PhD, co-founder of LifeNome, a precision health AI company headquartered in New York City.
At LifeNome, Mostashari helps nutrition companies leverage their ability to increasingly personalize their offerings and plan products that can cover different customer profile needs at the individual or cohort level.
Accommodating the athlete
While the “one-size-fits-all” recommendations still remain, the concept is slowly fading for the general population and quickly becoming a thing of the past for the sports nutrition community.
“Athletes want to optimize their current performance while ensuring longer term sustainable performance capability and injury prevention. This requires a good understanding of their unique muscle structure and power/endurance profile, as well as injury potentials for ligaments and tendons which are highly genetic in nature. Having that information combined with an understanding of their metabolism allows for optimizing their training and diet for their unique needs,” explained Mostashari.