Google to launch personalized nutrition app with microbiome company S’pore

The mobile app, known as AMILI Optimise, will be released in three major phases.

The first phase will leverage AMILI’s gut microbiome databank and Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) expertise to deliver personalized nutritional recommendations based on an individual’s gut microbiome and postprandial glycemic response over an eight-week program.

Users must provide photos of their daily meals, wear a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), provide a stool sample, and complete a self-report questionnaire that assesses changes in mood and energy levels before and after meals.

Depending on your individual needs, the mobile app may also recommend nutritional supplements such as AMILI Probiotics.

The personalized nutrition program is priced at S$750 (US$584), but will be offered at a discounted price of S$400 (US$312) as part of the launch promotion.

Set dietary and nutrition goals

The partnership was first announced at the Google for Singapore event held on February 10.

In an interview with NutraIngredients, Dr. Jeremy Lim, CEO and co-founder of AMILI, highlighted four key factors that influence health outcomes: diet and nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress management.

However, as a company specializing in the gut microbiome, Dr. Lim believes the company’s priority is to address dietary and nutritional needs.

“Many health programs have focused on sleep, steps, and physical activity because these parameters are easy to measure. … Most organizations have shied away from nutrition because it is more difficult to address,” he said, noting how diverse dietary habits can increase the difficulty of measuring the impact of diet.

“When I talked to my colleagues at Google, we thought that to be successful, we need to understand the biology and behavior. When it comes to biology, interestingly, genetics is a relatively small part, because while there may be some influence from genetics, a much larger component comes from the gut microbiome,” he said.

Citing a 2019 study by Spector et al., Dr. Lim noted that even identical twins may have different physiological responses to food due to different compositions of their gut microbiota.

As a microbiome company, the company accumulates data on individuals’ diet, gut microbiome, sleep, and stress levels, and by combining this data with artificial intelligence, it can provide personalized nutrition based on an individual’s microbiome.

“AMILI has expertise in gut health and has amassed petabytes worth of data. Google, on the other hand, has very deep expertise in AI and, interestingly, also has a food team. So we decided we could work together to personalize recommendations based on an individual’s microbiome and how their blood sugar responds to food.”

Meanwhile, Google said the partnership will help advance preventive health through the use of AI.

“By combining AMILI’s Asia-centric gut microbiome data and nutrition expertise with Google’s cloud and AI technologies like Gemini, the program will provide users with personalized nutrition and lifestyle recommendations based on their unique microbiome patterns, metabolic health, and goals,” Google said in a press release.

Aiming for behavior change

The mobile app is designed to promote behavior change and promote healthier food intake, and this feature will be rolled out in the second phase of the release.

“We are behaviorally different and motivated by different things, so combining biology and behavioral insights allows us to hyper-personalize recommendations and nudges that drive behavior,” Dr. Lim said.

That’s why in the second phase of the release, we’re giving our mobile app the ability to use Google Maps to recommend restaurants and meals that support your personal health goals.

“Then we will be able to make very practical recommendations. Instead of telling people they should eat more of this or less of that, we can recommend restaurants in real time that will provide the best food and nutrition for their current health status, based on their location,” he said.

The goal is to help users make healthier food choices.

“We want to not only educate people about nutrition, but also reduce friction and make it easier to find places to get healthy food at an affordable price,” he said.

The mobile app also provides recommendations on the types of physical activities users can engage in to achieve their daily health goals.

ecosystem changes

Finally, the partnership aims to promote healthier diets and nutritional intake by engaging the broader ecosystem, including governments, insurers and employers.

One example could be an employer offering cash back to employees who choose healthier food options.

Google said further collaboration with medical clusters and health organizations is being considered to bring this tool to Singaporeans as part of a broader precision nutrition programme.

“Over time, these small decisions will shape the way people think and become more health conscious,” Dr. Lim says. “In summary, this is a valuable opportunity for AMILI and Google to partner and contribute to the health promotion ecosystem, and in a nutshell, this is the purpose of the entire program.