A growing demand for personalised experiences is reshaping most consumer-facing industries, and nutrition is no exception.

Personalised nutrition is already a significant market on an upward growth trajectory – forecast to soar from $14.7 billion in 2024 to $35.1 billion by 2030¹.

As emerging technologies redefine consumer demand for tailored solutions and enhance the capabilities of health and nutrition brands, the definition and potential of personalised nutrition are also evolving rapidly. 

Understanding the Personalised Nutrition Landscape

Today, personalised nutrition relies mainly on consumer segmentation based on factors like lifestyle, dietary, and cultural preferences, which form the foundation of this market. Consumer segmentation remains a fundamental pillar of personalised nutrition, and brands seeking to excel in this market need to build a strong understanding of various consumer groups and their respective nutritional needs. 

Research has made it clear that age, lifestyle habits, and varying genetic predispositions across ethnicities and genders are critical in shaping different consumers’ unique health and nutrition requirements – a generic one-size-fits-all approach is insufficient.

For example, nutrition tips suitable for European body types have not been as beneficial for Asian consumers². Differences across age groups should also be considered; young adults who have grown up accustomed to hyper-personalised customer experiences are expecting the same when it comes to nutrition, leading the change in this space in markets like Japan³. 

Additionally, accounting for elements such as varying disease rates and cultural norms across markets is critical in ensuring that nutrition solutions are relevant and resonate with the target audience.

The Future: Precision Nutrition, Challenges, and Future Outlook

But even as we scale our understanding of how insights from these factors can be applied to product innovation, a new tech-powered era is emerging to challenge what we currently know about personalised nutrition. Is segmentation alone enough to create truly personalised experiences? 

Driven by nascent technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and biosensors, this new era enables unprecedented insight into consumers’ individual health needs – giving rise to hyper-personalisation in nutrition solutions, otherwise known as precision nutrition.

As a scientifically rigorous branch of personalised nutrition that leverages advanced technologies to record and analyse highly specific data (i.e., DNA, biochemical markers, gut bacteria), precision nutrition is expanding the definition of personalised nutrition to offer unparalleled levels of individualisation.  

In order to lead the charge with innovative solutions, brands will have to go one step further to familiarise themselves with evolving approaches to personalised nutrition and effectively harness advanced technologies and deep consumer understanding to truly lead the way in this transformative era.

Case Study: Virta HealthAmerican start-up offers a personalised low-carb diet programme for type 2 diabetes patients that is managed via their app. They work with over 350 partners to offer highly customised plans that also harness science-based, biomarker feedback to better tailor choices based on what works best for each consumer. With this approach, Virta Health has enabled 63% of its patients to eliminate diabetes-specific medications and 94% to eliminate or reduce insulin usage over a 1-year trial period. 

As this is still a developing area, now is the time for brands to invest and establish themselves at the forefront of change. This could involve forging strategic partnerships with companies that are developing relevant technologies as well as investing in Research and Development to understand evolving consumer sentiments, and how these can be married with scientific or technical insights to develop the most effective solutions. 

At the same time, it’s also critical to remain conscious of the likely challenges associated with precision nutrition. Firstly, high costs associated with data collection and analysis may limit accessibility for smaller brands. Data privacy is also a key concern for global consumers, necessitating careful data handling as well as the prioritisation of data security and transparency. This is particularly important in regions like the EU, where consumers have the lowest comfort level when it comes to sharing DNA data with corporations¹³. 

With the right approach that balances consumer safety and trust while also championing innovation, precision nutrition has the opportunity to revolutionise health and nutrition.