Research has made clear that, depending on factors like genetics and lifestyle, people may require a different mix of nutrients and eating habits for optimal health and well-being.⁴⁴ Unpicking these details is key to elucidating the causes of a number of significant health problems.

Future Horizons:

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5-yearhorizon

Research gives a clearer view of the gut microbiome’s role

Focused investigations achieve a systematic characterisation of individual variation in gut flora in multiple populations. AI sees some success in predicting gut microbiome responses to interventions, opening the path to better-informed dietary advice. Precise measurement of individuals’ nutrition status and underlying determinants becomes available to a wider swathe of the population.

10-yearhorizon

Links between diet and health are clarified

Physiological mechanisms linking diet and chronic health conditions are elucidated. Individual variation in hormonal responses to foods is characterised. Individualised nutrition programmes and food prescriptions become more widespread.

25-yearhorizon

Microbiome testing becomes standard practice in nutrition planning

A gut-microbiome biopsy becomes a standard test during nutrition planning. Researchers achieve greater clarity in developing nutrition plans that can mitigate chronic health risks, leading to reliable, proven interventions.

Scientists are now making progress in shaping the requirements of “personalised nutrition”. Gaining such insights involves monitoring individual responses to particular foods — including considerations of the age at which they are introduced and of the role of the individual’s gut microbiome. This has already shown potential to aid the development of a number of important health measures, such as tools for preventing the onset of obesity or food addiction.⁴⁵

A key challenge is to understand the interactions between diet and the gut microbiome.⁴⁶ Physiologists have learned that the gut and brain are strongly connected, interacting through links dubbed the “gut-brain axis”.⁴⁷ Alterations to diet can impact the microbiome,⁴⁸ with knock-on effects for multiple bodily systems including the immune system and even mental health.⁴⁹ People’s individual gut flora differ significantly, so understanding the microbiome is key to personalising nutrition.⁵⁰

Optimising nutrition - Anticipation Scores

The Anticipation Potential of a research field is determined by the capacity for impactful action in the present, considering possible future transformative breakthroughs in a field over a 25-year outlook. A field with a high Anticipation Potential, therefore, combines the potential range of future transformative possibilities engendered by a research area with a wide field of opportunities for action in the present. We asked researchers in the field to anticipate:

The uncertainty related to future science breakthroughs in the field
The transformative effect anticipated breakthroughs may have on research and society
The scope for action in the present in relation to anticipated breakthroughs.

This chart represents a summary of their responses to each of these elements, which when combined, provide the Anticipation Potential for the topic. See methodology for more information.