The Concept of Personalized Nutrition in Benin as Example for Developing Countries

Personalized nutrition (PN) collects and analyses individual data iteratively to generate dietary advice tailored to the characteristics of a person. While PN is mainly discussed in the context of Nutrigenetics and non-communicable diseases in developed countries with excessive food supply, this paper contrasts this scenario to one of unequal or short food supply, as found in developing countries. To overcome under-nutrition and avoid untargeted countrywide distributions of supplements, PN could identify individual deficiencies and target these by recommending specific locally available food items. As PN aims at a balanced diet, it simultaneously targets deficient as well as excessive intakes. This might additionally decelerate the prevalence of double burden of malnutrition in developing countries in the course of nutrition transition.