Foodlysense: Personalized Nutrition Through Nano Tech 🍽️
More than two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese.
You’ve probably heard this before but it’s an important fact to reemphasize. The prevalence of obesity is only increasing, leading to more than 2.8 million people dying each year as a result. On the flip side, maintaining a healthy diet can promote healthy pregnancies, reduce the risk of chronic diseases, and can improve mental health.
So why don’t we eat healthy?
The truth is that fast food is fast. In this day and age convenience trumps all others, and unhealthy foods are uncontested when it comes to being cheap and easy to access. Healthy food — vegetables, fruit, non-fried chicken — are seen as bland and expensive. Not only is fast food unhealthy, it also is a large factor in regards to addictive behaviors. Recent studies have shown that fast food is responsible for inhibiting gut microbiomes as the food is innutritious and non variegate. This impacts ones proclivity to addiction as the gut directly signals the brain through what is called the “Gut-Brain Axis” — with a poor selection of microbes in the gut it is more likely that one will be addicted to food. This is also why popular diets are unsuccessful in the long-term as the gut microbiome adapts to the food that they are eating.
Innovation Through Foodlysense
Using AI and Nano sensors, Foodlysense creates a personalized nutrition plan using data directly from the gut and gives you valuable information through the Foodlysense app.
How does Foodlysense work?
Foodlysense will use Nano biosensors to monitor trans fat levels and send this information to the user phone where it will be processed through neural networks outputting a nutrition plan tailored to that person’s needs. For instance, the nanotech can be used to monitor the presence of trans fat. As it is not typically found in nature, the body doesn’t have the enzymes to break trans fat down. It is linked to cancers, diabetes type II, heart disease, and of course obesity. Trans fat increases bad cholesterol and lowers good cholesterol.
It is recommended that trans fat be less than 10% of daily caloric intake. We will nanostructure the sensing electrodes to detect amounts larger than this. Once the amount is detected the sensor radio frequency signal allows the information to be sent to an external device. In the Foodlysense app the information will be processed in the neural network. The neural network will have multiple input layers one being user preferences, such as their likes, dislikes, and any dietary restrictions. The other layer will be the amount of trans fat detected. So for example, those with high trans fat levels may be recommended to switch to a Mediterranean diet, the healthiest diet in the world.
Alright this sounds great so why is it not in use today. One of the largest hurdles with Nano sensors is being able to continuously power the sensor. We plan on overcoming this by making the process as short as possible while also maintaining accuracy. Another hurdle is cost. But it has been found that with the commercialization of Nano sensors the cost will be significantly decreased. With this said it is possible for the technology to be ready within the next 5 year. Especially, as research continues in nanotechnology.
One study says that Nano sensors could be as cheap as just tens of dollars if they are mass produced. With this in mind, an ideal price would be between $160–180 covering both implementation and cost of production.
In the future it will be easier than ever to listen to our bodies and provide it with all its needs. We plan on expanding this to having the ability to detect other substances such as bacteria and protein. Health is not a one size fits all. And Foodlysense helps us to overcome that barrier. The future of nutrition lies in the power of nanotech and most definitely Foodlysense.
