{"id":11442,"date":"2022-05-09T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/?p=11442"},"modified":"2023-02-28T11:16:40","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T11:16:40","slug":"personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know","title":{"rendered":"Personalised nutrition: 5 things you need to know\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-14300 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-2.16.18-PM-e1635526333486.png\" alt=\"World Vegan Day - vege basket\" width=\"236\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-2.16.18-PM-e1635526333486.png 236w, https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screen-Shot-2021-10-28-at-2.16.18-PM-e1635526333486-50x63.png 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 236px) 100vw, 236px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Personalised nutrition is getting a lot of attention in the research world and in the media &#8211; especially as more and more of us are looking to optimise our health and wellbeing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">But what does it actually mean? It\u2019s essentially the concept that every individual has unique nutrition needs, and therefore ideally needs more targeted nutritional advice based on different personal factors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">This means the one-sized-fits-all dietary guidelines we\u2019ve been used to perhaps aren\u2019t always fitting at an individual level, as we may each react differently to different foods depending on things like our lifestyle (sleep, exercise, etc) and, of course, our GM (gut microbiota, the trillions of microbes living in the gut).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">That\u2019s what one study by my colleagues at King\u2019s College London (Berry, et al., 2020) set out to investigate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>The PREDICT Study: Personalised Responses to Dietary Composition Trial<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Researchers recruited 1,100 healthy participants in the UK (1,000) and US (100) aged 18-65 years and gave them test meals to eat during one day in a clinic followed by 2 weeks at home at specific times, varying in macronutrients (protein, fat, carbs and fibre). They wore monitors as well as having blood tests and giving poop samples for analysis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>What they found<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Participants\u2019 blood fats, glucose and insulin levels after meals hugely varied between individuals, highlighting the different responses to identical meals &#8211; even between twins. BUT, the research also suggested that responses differed WITHIN individuals too, likely depending on a range of factors including meal context, amount of sleep etc.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Meal context<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> had a significant influence &#8211; people seemed to have a much higher blood sugar response when eating at lunchtime, compared to eating the same meal at breakfast.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This <\/span><b>\u2018time of day\u2019<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> factor seemed to influence responses in young people the most, while for those over 60 years old it didn\u2019t appear to have as much of an impact.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Genetics<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> appeared to have little impact &#8211; meaning<\/span><b> lifestyle factors <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(how much sleep we\u2019ve had, how stressed we are etc.)<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that we have the power to change can have a powerful effect.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it comes to participants\u2019 <\/span><b>GM<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; you guessed it &#8211; they found that eating more plant-based foods consistently was linked with more bacteria associated with health benefits. And while a person\u2019s GM did provide some insight to how a person&#8217;s blood sugars responded to different meals, the impact was really quite small. This suggests that looking at someone\u2019s gut bacteria in isolation is not the answer to personalised nutrition.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Red wine, oily fish, yoghurt, dark chocolate and eggs were also linked with more \u2018good\u2019 bacteria!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Full disclosure<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Participants were also asked to fast for 8 hours before their breakfasts and to limit exercise. They were also only drinking still water during fasting periods and to avoid eating for 3-4 hours after their meals &#8211; so this could have had an impact on some of the results.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>What about those commercial \u2018personalised nutrition\u2019 tests?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">When it comes to the expensive tests being sold online for your DNA or microbiome, promising to reveal your body\u2019s personalised nutrition preferences, and even \u2018protect you from disease\u2019 or \u2018diagnose food intolerances\u2019, I wouldn\u2019t recommend them&#8230; at least not yet anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">While they might be interesting and we\u2019re definitely heading towards more personalised nutrition, we\u2019re not quite there yet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">The science is rapidly progressing and I think in the next few years they\u2019ll be more insightful \u2013 so save your money for now and watch this space!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">If you\u2019re suffering from gut issues and suspect you might be reacting to certain foods, speak to your GP first before eliminating any foods to rule out coeliac disease or anything more serious.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><b>The one \u2018generic\u2019 piece of nutrition advice that still stands? Eat more plants for good gut and overall health!<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Personalised nutrition is getting a lot of attention in the research world and in the media &#8211; especially as more and more of us are looking to optimise our health and wellbeing. But what does it actually mean? It\u2019s essentially the concept that every individual has unique nutrition needs, and therefore ideally needs more targeted&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":11443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-or-nutrition"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Personalised nutrition: 5 things you need to know\u00a0 | The Gut Health Doctor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Personalised nutrition is getting a lot of attention in the research world and in the media, but what does it actually mean? Find out here!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Personalised nutrition: 5 things you need to know\u00a0 | The Gut Health Doctor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Personalised nutrition is getting a lot of attention in the research world and in the media, but what does it actually mean? Find out here!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Gut Health Doctor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-09T15:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-28T11:16:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ghd-final-print-11195.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shirley Clinic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shirley Clinic\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know\",\"name\":\"Personalised nutrition: 5 things you need to know\u00a0 | The Gut Health Doctor\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ghd-final-print-11195.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-09T15:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-28T11:16:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ae103084a790026b64e164c8916c48c6\"},\"description\":\"Personalised nutrition is getting a lot of attention in the research world and in the media, but what does it actually mean? Find out here!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ghd-final-print-11195.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ghd-final-print-11195.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":2500,\"caption\":\"A large plate filled with mixed fruits, vegetables and nuts\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Personalised nutrition: 5 things you need to know\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Gut Health Doctor\",\"description\":\"Transform your gut, transform your life\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ae103084a790026b64e164c8916c48c6\",\"name\":\"Shirley Clinic\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed0bacfe4bac7b93b8f8a90e47e1520b6b2ac3debc49e9450237110298823c03?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed0bacfe4bac7b93b8f8a90e47e1520b6b2ac3debc49e9450237110298823c03?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shirley Clinic\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Personalised nutrition: 5 things you need to know\u00a0 | The Gut Health Doctor","description":"Personalised nutrition is getting a lot of attention in the research world and in the media, but what does it actually mean? Find out here!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Personalised nutrition: 5 things you need to know\u00a0 | The Gut Health Doctor","og_description":"Personalised nutrition is getting a lot of attention in the research world and in the media, but what does it actually mean? Find out here!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know","og_site_name":"The Gut Health Doctor","article_published_time":"2022-05-09T15:30:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-28T11:16:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":2500,"url":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ghd-final-print-11195.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Shirley Clinic","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shirley Clinic","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know","url":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know","name":"Personalised nutrition: 5 things you need to know\u00a0 | The Gut Health Doctor","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ghd-final-print-11195.jpg","datePublished":"2022-05-09T15:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-28T11:16:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ae103084a790026b64e164c8916c48c6"},"description":"Personalised nutrition is getting a lot of attention in the research world and in the media, but what does it actually mean? Find out here!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ghd-final-print-11195.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ghd-final-print-11195.jpg","width":2000,"height":2500,"caption":"A large plate filled with mixed fruits, vegetables and nuts"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/personalised-nutrition-5-things-you-need-to-know#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Personalised nutrition: 5 things you need to know\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/","name":"The Gut Health Doctor","description":"Transform your gut, transform your life","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ae103084a790026b64e164c8916c48c6","name":"Shirley Clinic","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed0bacfe4bac7b93b8f8a90e47e1520b6b2ac3debc49e9450237110298823c03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed0bacfe4bac7b93b8f8a90e47e1520b6b2ac3debc49e9450237110298823c03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Shirley Clinic"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}