“Consumer demands drive flexible and optimised manufacturing processes and also infrastructure,”said Catarina Abreu, Head of Nutraceuticals at PIPA AI.
At a talk during the CPHI Europe conference, which took place 8–10 October in Milan, Italy, Abreu, said that consumer-centric strategies are key to success and artificial intelligence (AI) is not just an option, but the driving force behind sustainable, personalised nutrition solutions. Nutraceutical companies can differentiate their products and potentially capture a much larger market share by making changes to meet customer demands, she said. One thing that is growing point of consideration for companies and consumers is sustainability. Ranging from sustainable packaging to using plant-based options or making sustainability claims like being carbon-neutral or plastic-free, Abreu said by incorporating such aspects, nutraceutical companies can contribute to broader sustainability goals.
AI tools can be useful for identifying market trends
According to Abreu, real-time consumer sentiment analysis can lead to growth by driving or improving new product development. Looking at specific statistics, she mentioned that 45% of content marketeers use social tools for ideation and that social media marketing campaigns now cost less to launch and maintain, while highlighting that 78% of people use social media as their primary source of information. Therefore, AI tools for market trend analysis and consumer insights are an “ally to analyse information”, she added. Gathering consumer inputs and adding them into machine learning models that can detect patterns will provide valuable insights for product development, which would not be feasible by traditional methods.
Additionally, AI-powered compound discovery, evidence and synthesis tools can help drive research into new bioactives, while the predictive modeling for nutraceutical solutions can lead to more effective, personalised, and safer solutions. AI tools can also prove useful for nutrient interaction analysis and specifically the identification of positive or negative synergies between compounds, she added.
Overall, the use of AI in nutraceutical formulation design, from concept to go-to-market, can help in the optimisation of nutrient delivery systems and material selection to ensure stability or shelf-life. But the most companies are not collecting the data that is key to enabling AI-driven strategies. To answer such questions, Abreu stressed the need for companies to collect machine-readable data and use structured annotation for effective AI implementation.
AI will play a major role in precision nutrition
Abreu also touched upon precision nutrition and the role of AI in developing personalised nutritional recommendations. Precision nutrition involves a comprehensive and dynamic nutritional recommendation based on individual variables that include genetics, microbiome, metabolic profile, health status, physical activity and dietary patterns.
Currently, personalised dietary recommendations, real-time monitoring, and wearable devices that track nutritional status and health conditions, like continuous glucose monitoring, are available to optimise meal planning and prevent issues like insulin resistance. However, the nutraceutical industry can address precision nutrition challenges by investing in AI and advanced technologies that can act as a “catalyser” to accelerate product development, improve innovation, reduce time to market, and enable biomarker analysis to help prevent diseases.
The future of precision nutrition lies in leveraging AI to accelerate product development, enable biomarker analysis, produce flexible formulations, alongside real-time monitoring to prevent chronic diseases, she mentioned. Additionally, the collaboration between companies, transparent communication, and addressing regulatory challenges around personalised data are necessary for advancements in the nutraceuticals space.
