The Rise of Personalised Nutrition
Personalised nutrition is a burgeoning field of interest. Puratos’s proprietary research programme, Taste Tomorrow, indicates that gut health already has a significant impact on the bakery sector, and personalised nutrition is set to have an even bigger impact. Global interest in gut health is increasing, with 3 out of 4 consumers expressing interest in improving their immunity (80%) and mental well-being (79%) through gut health. Consumers are discussing functional foods and personalised nutrition, covering both mental and physical benefits such as Mood food and Gut health. The trend towards gut-friendly food options has made fermented foods like kimchi and kombucha, as well as yoghurt, kefir, whole-grain, sourdough bread, and other high-fibre options increasingly popular.
The Role of the Gut Microbiome
The gut microbiome, which contains trillions of microorganisms, plays a fundamental role in maintaining our health, nutrition, immune defences, brain activity, and behaviour. It forms a complex system known as the microbiota-gut-brain-axis, which affects brain development, cognitive performance, mood, reactivity to stress, and socialisation. The proper ecological balance of the gut microbiota is known to have a significant impact on our health.
Understanding the Gut-Mind Connection
Traditional medicine has not always paid much attention to nutrition, but research in the past five years has suggested the importance of the gut microbiome to overall health and the way it can be affected by food. Foods contain over 25,000 chemicals and combine with more than a thousand different species of microbes in the gut that interact with 20,000 genes. Hormones also play a role, and a slight change can cause the whole system to get out of balance, leading to long-term problems. Researchers are coming around to the idea that there is no one-size-fits-all diet for improving health. The interplay of genes and microbes affects how and what we eat, and everybody is different and needs something else.
Harnessing Probiotics for Health
Probiotics are living microbes, also known as ‘good bacteria’, that live naturally in the body. All different kinds of foods are getting fortified with probiotics to gain health benefits, but it’s not very precise or personal. Some companies are offering personalised nutrition services using technologies such as genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics to analyse what people eat and predict how they respond to it.
Challenges and Opportunities for the Bakery Sector
Bringing personalisation to the mass market meets with several difficulties as the research is still in its early days, and there is no single definition of a healthy gut microbiome or of an imbalance in the gut. However, the bakery sector can benefit from the personalised nutrition trend by offering products that contain prebiotic fibres, like whole wheat and seeds, which selectively promote the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. Adding food that’s rich in prebiotic compounds to the diet is a very effective way to keep a healthy gut or restore an imbalanced one. Legal approval of health claims is another challenge that needs to be addressed before the bakery sector can benefit from the personalised nutrition trend.
Bridging the Future: The Role of Bakeries
In the future, bakeries may be able to “read” consumers’ needs by using metabolic reading devices, offering personalised advice on what type of bread is best suited to the individual’s needs. Microbiome research has accelerated dramatically in recent years, providing hope that bakeries can capitalise on the trend towards personalised nutrition.
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