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Economists envision humans as rational, cost-benefit-maximizing individuals, a position which sometimes makes it difficult to empathize the insane dietary choices many people make. Humanity's legendary dietary mistakes — which include a king of England dying from eating an excess of Lamprey, a creature and then ugly it'south mind boggling that anyone could observe the courage to eat more than one — are putting the unabridged earth at risk.

Rarely has been at that place so business firm a consensus on what the problem is, and and so piddling motivation, political or otherwise, to do something about it. Nutritionists everywhere agree that the adult globe, and increasing the developing world besides, consumes far as well many animal products and refined sugars. Simply this penchant for creature flesh and greasy, sugary, fried foods isn't just endangering the people consuming them. The greenhouse gases resulting from the production of such also happen to be one of the leading causes of global warming. Information technology's double jeopardy, both for humanity and the environs.

While the idea of legislating diet will catch in more than than one person'south gorge, thankfully at that place is an alternative, and it's called the smart nutrition revolution. What exactly the smart diet revolution constitutes is open to argue, but we will define it hither as the outsourcing of dietary choices to artificial intelligence — be it smart refrigerators that choose menus for us, or diet apps and virtual assistants, all of which will increasingly play a commanding role in what we "cull" to eat.

One may enquire why is all this necessary: Can't we merely follow some simple rules of pollex set out in things like the food pyramid and admonitions to "swallow your greens"? It doesn't seem like information technology. One of the many results stemming from the decoding of the human genome is that coming up with an platonic diet for a person is vastly more complicated than nosotros previously imagined. In truth, what is ideal for one person may exist entirely toxic to another, depending on whatsoever number of genetic mutations. Every bit we gradually unravel what these mutations are and how they interact with each other, we volition begin creating personalized diets tailored directly to a person's genome.

gene diet interaction

An example of the complexity behind gene diet interactions, taking from a research paper on the topic.

Unfortunately, the tangled web that constitutes gene diet interactions is and so massively complex to be beyond human understanding when it comes to choosing what entree to order at a eating house. Repeatedly studies have demonstrated that the human brain has a kind of functional constraint built into it that makes it difficult for a person to juggle more than seven variables at a time. (Information technology's for this reason that the number of digits used for phone numbers was capped at seven.) When it comes to personalized diets based on genetic mutations, at that place are literally hundreds of mutations at play. For this reason, machine forms of intelligence are uniquely suited for crafting personalized genome-based diets. Already a host of technologies are sprouting up to help us start understanding how our genetic code influences nutrition.

Nutrition software

Software solutions that tailor personalized genetic diets to a person are already out in the wild. Ane of the leaders in this field is the visitor Pathway Genomics. They offer a diverseness of directly-to-consumer genetic testing packages, including the PathwayFit report, which purports to analyze a host of mutations related to how a person processes sugars, fats, nutrients, and vitamins based on specific genetic mutations. However, at a sticker toll of $599, this is probably exterior the range of most people's budgets. A more than affordable solution comes in the forms of smartphone apps like Deoxyribonucleic acid Doc, which utilise the raw genetic data from one's 23andMe AncestryDNA or FamilyTreeDNA written report to analyze mutations related to nutrition. Then there are apps that use artificial intelligence to assistance us make better dietary choices similar Google'due south Im2Calories, which uses machine learning and image recognition to approximate how many calories are in a plate of food based upon a motion-picture show of it taken from a person's smartphone. Just as we volition come across, this is just the tip of the iceberg in how artificial intelligence is at piece of work in changing diets.

Food production

Another fashion artificial intelligence is irresolute nutrition is in the production of food itself. One case of this is a Chilean business concern, called NotCo, which employs cutting-edge science to modify the composition of food, making information technology both healthier for people and the environment. Admitting that humans are non probable to lose their taste for meat anytime presently, the company has fix virtually learning how to replicate the taste and texture of meat with culling ingredients. While this may smack of heresy to died-in-the-wool meat eaters, there is no denying the environmental and health benefits that would accrue with the success of their venture.

Previous attempts of this sort have met with mixed with results. I tin can personally adjure to the disarming nature of meat substitutes like MorningStar Farms Grillers Prime Veggie Burgers, only examples of lab-grown meat suggest it still has some way to go before it could laissez passer equally the real thing. But where NotCo differs from the competition is how it'south going near creating meat substitutes. The name of its underground sauce is Giuseppe, which refers not to a person or an ingredient, merely an artificial intelligence model the company created for understanding nutrient at a molecular level. Giuseppe uses deep learning, a subtype of machine learning, to "r eplicate the taste, texture and even smell of creature-based products by copying their molecular structure." While I have yet to sample any of Giuseppe'due south creations, there'south every reason to believe the results will exist truly groundbreaking, both for human sense of taste buds and the surround.

Kitchen technology

The third wave of smart nutrition is taking place in kitchens themselves. This is best exemplified by something that has come to be known as the smart fridge. While prototypes accept been floating around in R&D labs for a long time, 2022 is the year we could finally run across the smart refrigerator out in the wild. Samsung is making a awe-inspiring button to bring their Family unit Hub smart refrigerator into the mainstream, and while dietary improvements will initially take second place to amusement features, in that location are some clear sight lines for improvement in both directions.

The Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator comes armed with a massive 21-inch touch screen and Tizen operating system. It uses cameras strategically positioned throughout the interior of the refrigerator to keep an middle on how long that moldering jar of mayonnaise has been camping out behind the milk cartons. It also comes equipped with software for choosing recipes and the ability to seamlessly order ingredients from online retailers.

smart refridgerator

The Samsung Smart Refrigerator in all its chrome glory.

The biggest strides to be taken in the smart nutrition revolution are likely to come up with the merger of all 3 technologies discussed in a higher place. It remains to exist seen which concepts succeed with consumers and which ones don't. Simply it's safe to say that when our smart refrigerators are loaded with apps possessing noesis of unique genomes, and suggest recipes accordingly, fabricated from environmentally sustainable ingredients called by an artificial intelligence algorithm, that's when the smart diet revolution will have finally taken concord. All the components of such a organisation already exist. It's probably only a matter of time before they brainstorm linking upwardly, delivering both better outcomes for people and the environment.

Nosotros're roofing future medical technology all this calendar week; read the remainder of our Medical Tech Week stories for more. And be certain to check out our ExtremeTech Explains series for more in-depth coverage of today'due south hottest tech topics.