A Better Approach to Personalized Nutrition

This is the era of personalized nutrition. It’s not about figuring out which diet is healthiest for humans anymore. Two people can follow the same diet and have very results. Our genes, environment, health history—even the environment and diet that our parents had before we were even born—all influence how our bodies respond to foods and nutrients.

So how do we go about customizing our diets to fit our unique needs?

In the past, people have proposed basing your diet on your blood type, body shape, or where your ancestors hail from. None of these methods have really stood up to scientific scrutiny.

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More recently, as medical technology has advanced, diets based on DNA profiles or microbiome analysis are making the rounds. Some have these are still speculative. Others have some solid science to back them up.

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Just a couple of weeks ago, for example, I talked about a company that has developed and validated an algorithm that can predict your blood sugar response to foods based on an analysis of your intestinal flora.

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Knowing what to eat doesn't always equal eating a healthy diet

In response to that episode one of my colleagues, a registered dietitian named Nancy Teeter, made a very astute observation on my Facebook page: "People can know their perfect diet," she pointed out, "and still choose not to follow it."

Many people know what they should be eating. Knowing better doesn’t always lead to doing better.

This is a point that often gets lost in all the excitement about personalized nutrition! I work with people all the time who know full well that the dietary choices they are making are not supporting their health. They know what they should be eating. Knowing better doesn’t always lead to doing better.

I think we often kid ourselves that having more information will result in making better choices, especially if that information is highly specific to us. This is why people sign up for nutrition counseling. But as most nutritionists and dietitians that work with people one-on-one will tell you, very little of their counseling consists of telling people what they should and...

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