App gives dietary advice based on data on DNA and gut bacteria

Medicine and medico technology Information technology
Genetic data combined with new knowledge about the genetic make-up of gut bacteria opens the door to personal dietary recommendations.

Personal dietary recommendations based on your genetic data and data about your gut bacteria.This may sound like science fiction to most, but the technology is already available in the form of a mobile phone app.

At the smart healthcare and food track at DTU High Tech Summit, Amir Golan, Chief Commercial Officer International in the Israeli company the DayTwo App, and Chinese top researcher Jun Wang present results based on the use of artificial intelligence to provide individual advice on health and nutrition.

“Research on how gut bacteria respond to different food components opens the door to a new approach to nutrition and health, which is more personal than what we’ve previously seen. We therefore try to understand the significance of the connection between diet and the reaction patterns of gut bacteria in the individual and how this is related to health and various lifestyle diseases. We try to understand how the gut microbiota reacts in healthy people. We also try to figure out how to make strategies which can either prevent disease by adding specific groups of bacteria or cure disease by changing the existing composition of bacteria,” says Susanne Brix Pedersen, Professor with special responsibilities, DTU Bioengineering.

She continues: “We try to understand how gut microbiota reacts in healthy people and how to make strategies which can either prevent disease by adding specific groups of bacteria or cure disease by changing the existing composition of bacteria.”

"Research on how gut bacteria respond to different food components opens the door to a new approach to nutrition and health."
Professor Susanne Brix Pedersen, DTU Bioengineering

The DayTwo app is developed based on research from Weizmann Institute which was completed in 2014.

Researchers Eran Segal and Eran Elinav observed 800 test subjects in order to describe how their gut microbiota affected their blood sugar levels. The genomes of all test subjects as well as the genetic make-up in their gut bacteria were sequenced. Throughout a week, the subjects registered what they ate, when they ate, their exercise and sleep on an app as well as submitting stool samples.

All data was compared to data on the subjects’ blood sugar levels which were recorded every five minutes.

All data on the subjects’ genomes and gut bacteria were entered into a computer model where the connection between genetic data and blood sugar reactions were used to create a mathematical model with the ability to predict how blood sugar levels respond to food according to the test subject’s gut microbiota. This is the algorithm that DayTwo uses in the app.

The use of digital technologies in healthcare and food is one of the main themes of DTU High Tech Summit 2018.

A significant competitive parameter lies in the introduction of digital technologies and in the ability to handle and analyse the large volumes of data currently produced in all parts of companies.