The Need for True Personalization in Nutrition Care

We all need food to live, but food’s only purpose is not simply fuel. Food represents so much more; it’s a central part of our identities, traditions, and cultures. In the United States, a country with such a mix of people, our standard dietary protocols often skew towards a more Mediterranean dietary pattern. This approach often unintentionally leaves out the variety of amazing, nutrient-dense foods and recipes from African, Asian, and Middle Eastern regions of the world. For the millions of patients with chronic diseases, they often feel limited with food choices because our recommendations do not reflect many of their family-favorite dishes. AI can start mending this accidental divide by completely personalizing nutrition and enabling people to make informed food choices that also help improve their health. 

As a Registered Dietitian, I’ve had the privilege of working in a variety of settings, including inpatient hospitals, long-term care/acute rehab facilities, psychiatric hospitals, and most recently in outpatient telehealth nutrition counseling. Across all of these positions, I’ve seen firsthand the limitations of our current nutrition healthcare system when it comes to truly individualized nutrition recommendations. 

At Flourish AI, we know AI can play an important role in empowering people to achieve meaningful food freedom while intelligently managing their chronic conditions, starting with IBS.

Disparity in Education and Rising Demand

When I was graduating university, the requirements to become a Registered Dietitian entailed earning a Bachelor’s degree in nutrition, dietetics, or a related field, completing 1,200 hours of an ACEND-accredited dietetic internship, and passing the RD exam. Paying for a state-specific licensure is also required, depending on the state the RD practices in. The previously stated requirements still stand today, but since January 1, 2024, all RD candidates must now have a Master’s degree to be eligible to take the RD exam. 

This is quite a controversial requirement for a field struggling with labor shortages and growing demand. Long term, this change will hopefully elevate the whole nutrition industry and lead to improvements in patient care. However, historically, the field of dietetics has struggled with low diversity with the majority (> 65%) of dietitians being white women. The obvious issue with this is that people from all ethnic backgrounds need nutritional guidance, whether that’s in hospitals, nursing homes, or the comfort of their homes. 

Why Cultural Competence Matters in Dietetics

Cultural competence can be defined as the ability to understand and effectively interact with people from differing cultures, backgrounds, and belief systems than one’s own. This is a crucial skill for all dietitians to learn regardless of their own identities. College curriculums for students entering the field embrace this, but it’s not practical for any one dietitian to be extremely well-versed in all of the food traditions they may come across in professional practice. 

Cultural competence is certainly a skill dietitians develop over time, and working with a mix of inpatient and outpatient populations has given me important real-world experience. For example, because one of my nutrition specialties is vegan and vegetarian diets, I’ve grown much more competent working with Indian Americans. With half my family being Colombian, I feel comfortable working with Latino and Hispanic people. Yet I’ll be the first one to admit, I’m not super familiar with many African or East Asian cuisines.

Diversifying the field is one way to reduce this issue, as patients can better relate to and feel understood by dietitians who have similar lived experiences to them, especially when it comes to food.

How Flourish AI Can Help

Recognizing the previously discussed diversity issue, the Flourish AI team is leveraging technology and AI to provide culturally relevant nutrition guidance. Imagine a future where eating nutritious foods does not mean saying goodbye to one’s favorite meals. Flourish AI’s nutrition companion is being trained to understand and recommend any number of culturally diverse recipes to really meet somebody where they are at. Certain modifications may be necessary depending on the person’s chronic condition, like IBS or GERD, but that is much less of a change than eliminating the meal entirely. 

AI models are capable of personalizing recommendations to one specific user, and those recommendations improve over time as the user continues to log their food intake, along with any pertinent gastrointestinal symptoms. The AI nutrition assistant actually learns the more information the user provides. This level of machine learning can support anybody on their health journey, regardless of their cultural and ethnic background.

Looking to the Future

With all of the advancements with AI technology, change across multiple industries is inevitable. Using technology to improve health outcomes in ways that support health equity is more possible than ever thanks to AI and machine learning. As a Registered Dietitian, I’m excited about anything that enables people to create meaningful change in their lives and simplify nutrition. At Flourish AI, we want your help to shape the future of nutrition care. Join our waitlist today to become part of our mission in building a smarter, more inclusive way to manage food and health.