NUTRISHIELD is one of the PREVENTOMICS’s sister projects. The two projects share the same big goal to develop a highly effective and easy to use personalised nutrition platform and tools, following, however, a different strategy and approach. NUTRISHIELD is an innovative solution, providing personalised nutrition advice and support that will assist people in achieving their optimal health and well-being and adopting long-term healthy and sustainable diets.
Just like Stance4Health, another PREVENTOMICS sister-project, NUTRISHIELD is developing a fact-based approach encompassing the measurement of a set of biomarkers and exploiting the capabilities of omics sciences (metabolomics, genomics, microbiomics is at the focus of NUTRISHIELD). To achieve its fact-based approach, the project integrates in a holistic approach the developments of user-oriented ICT tools (the NUTRISHIELD dashboard and the NUTRISHIELD app), the development of new algorithms to achieve personalised nutrition, as well as the development of new analysers that support and enhanced the fact-based approach of the project.
The NUTRISHIELD developments are designed around and implemented at three different use cases (clinical studies) aiming to enhanced nutrition intake and health of the most important population of all: children! The first study regards the development of a personalised nutrition algorithm in diabetic and/or obese children, the second study regards the improvement through personalised nutrition of lactating mothers, aiming at improving preterm infant’s health and, finally, the third study explores how personalised nutrition-related schemes can assist children against cognitive decline.
Regarding the NUTRISHIELD analysers, the project capitalises the recent advances in laser technology and printed sensors to develop and demonstrate a set of three analysers:
Human milk analyser
Urine analyer
Breath analyser
NUTRISHIELD has just entered its 4th, and final, year. This is a time of excitement for the consortium as the many developments of the projects are being implemented and demonstrated in clinical studies for their effectiveness to be assessed in terms of the potential to ameliorating the health condition of the targeted population (children with obesity and/or diabetes, pre-maturely born infants and their lactating mothers, children with tendency to develop cognitive decline).
The first study is conducted at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute (OSR) in Milan, Italy, where a total of 60 children have been enrolled. The study includes an observational study (ongoing, to be concluded in February 2022) and an intervention study to be implemented in 2022.
The second study is conducted by the Medical Research Institute of the Hospital La Fe (HULAFE) in Valencia, Spain. A total of 75 infants participate in the study which is expected to complete in in 2022. Finally, the third NUTRISHIELD study, an assessment on whether nutritional status can affect the outcome of spatial cognition training in the brain regarding the join developments with another funded project concluded at the Radboud University, Netherlands. In this joined effort, NUTRISHIELD measures a total of 40 breath samples.
