Personalised food: how personal is it?

Area of Science:

• Nutritional Science
• Genomics
• Consumer Behavior

Background:

• Consumer goods personalization surged in the late 20th century, extending to food products focusing on convenience, cost, packaging, and taste.
• The functional food industry is now exploring personalized health through nutrigenomics, aiming to tailor food to individual genetic profiles.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the potential of personalized nutrigenomic foods in improving individual health outcomes.
• To identify the scientific, technical, consumer, market, and ethical challenges hindering the adoption of personalized nutrigenomic foods.

Main Methods:

• Review of current trends in food personalization and the emerging field of nutrigenomics.
• Analysis of factors influencing public adoption of new food technologies.
• Examination of ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) driving food personalization.

Main Results:

• Personalized food trends are driven by factors including convenience, cost, packaging, taste, and increasingly, health.
• Significant scientific, technical, consumer, market, and ethical hurdles must be addressed for personalized nutrigenomic foods to succeed.
• Ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) are identified as major drivers for food personalization.

Conclusions:

• The successful integration of personalized nutrigenomic foods depends on overcoming multifaceted challenges.
• Public adoption and addressing ELSI are critical determinants for the future of personalized nutrition.
• The agriculture and food sectors have a significant opportunity to connect individuals with health-tailored foods through nutrigenomics.