This is based on emerging evidence showing how nutrition and the gut microbiome could affect different parts of of the body, such as the liver, skin, and brain.
Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit held in Singapore between November 19 and 21, the panel consisted of experts from both the functional food and ingredients industry as well as physicians.
They included Dr Jim Flatt, co-founder and strategic advisor of California-based bioactives company Brightseed, Dr Jeremy Lim, consultant surgeon, and CEO of Asian Microbiome Library (AMiLi) which also manufactures probiotics, Dr Mona Manghani, consultant rheumatologist at Singapore’s Tan Tock Seng Hospital, and Dr Charles Johnson, emergency physician at Hope Medflight Asia.
The panel was moderated by Kelvin Ng, managing partner at Green Bridge Partners.
They were discussing the topic “Food as Medicine: A Medical Approach to the Gut Health Microbiome”.
A key consensus among the panellists was how the food and medical sectors were both lacking in their knowledge of nutrition.
For the food industry, this could mean that they are missing out on product innovation opportunities, while for the medical professionals, this could mean that they could not provide holistic healthcare advice to their patients.
“We have a healthcare industry that understands so little about nutrition and food. The actual issue is that we also have a massive food industry that understands so little about health...
“And sadly, it is in the interest of the pharmaceutical industry not to see patients die, but for patients to remain chronically ill for the rest of their lives, and they derive income from them.
“But the hope I see is that in the food industry, your aim will be to optimise human health because then there is literally money to be made if somebody is healthy and happy and not taking pills,” said Dr Johnson who is also a certified lifestyle medicine physician.
However, as scientific research on food, gut, and the microbiome deepens, Dr Johnson believes that nutrition is set to become a fast growing field in medical education and practice.
“Antibiotics have changed the curve of the treatment for infectious diseases. We are going to see the same thing once we understand the microbiome and the key importance of nutrition,” he said.
Brightseed, in this case, has been studying how different food compounds have the potential to improve health.
One area that it is working on, is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
Using its Forager AI platform, the company maps bioactives found in natural compounds and connect them to specific health benefits.
So far, the platform has identified phenolic rich compounds - including black pepper and onions - that could potentially restore liver function.
Working with Sanford Burnham Institute, he said that the company has discovered compounds that could target harmful accumulation of fats in the liver due to poor diets.
The firm announced back in 2021 that two compounds -N-trans caffeoyltyramine (NTC) and N-trans-feruloyltyramine (NTF) - could promote fat clearance from the steatotic livers of mice fed with high fat diet.
“Preclinical data has shown that we could restore healthy liver and healthy liver function and see significant weight reduction associated with this compound,” said Dr Flatt.
The firm is currently running three clinical studies which it expects to report in the next six to eight months.
Dr Flatt added that the firm planned to bring the product into the Asian market in the latter part of next year.
“We will be bringing this to the Asian market in later 2025 for product registrations. And I think this really shows a great example of the power of nature and the power of food as a vector for good, as opposed to a vector for disease,” he said.
Responding to a query from the audience, he also pointed out the potential of bee pollen for blood glucose management - which is another prominent topic under metabolic health.
He said that its benefits, however, tended to favour pre-diabetic individuals more than those who are already suffering from diabetes.
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Right nutrition could support a good gut microbiome and in turn, lowers the risk of chronic inflammation and illnesses such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer, pointed out Dr Manghani.
“All the patients that I see in my clinic have one thing in common - which is chronic systemic inflammation.
“Diet and gut dysbiosis is one of the major triggers of chronic inflammation. As a lifestyle advocate as well, I do look at a more holistic approach with my patients. I don’t just give them medications, but we also talk about food, and what what we should be eating,” said Dr Manghani who is also a certified lifestyle medicine physician.
On the other hand, Dr Lim, who runs the Asian Microbiome Library (AMiLi), said that the most concerning problem that he sees in stool samples was the amount of fats present.
In this case, he believes a concerted effort from the regulators and industry is needed to promote healthy eating.
“Individual effort is important...But this also depends on what we as a society do in terms of the accessibility to healthy foods, regulations, pricing, and subsidies,” he said.