Developing a Personalized Meal Recommendation System for Chinese Older Adults: Observational Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: China's older population is facing serious health challenges, including malnutrition and multiple chronic conditions. There is a critical need for tailored food recommendation systems. Knowledge graph-based food recommendations offer considerable promise in delivering personalized nutritional support. However, the integration of disease-based nutritional principles and preference-related requirements needs to be optimized in current recommendation processes. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to develop a knowledge graph-based personalized meal recommendation system for community-dwelling older adults and to conduct preliminary effectiveness testing. METHODS: We developed ElCombo, a personalized meal recommendation system driven by user profiles and food knowledge graphs. User profiles were established from a survey of 96 community-dwelling older adults. Food knowledge graphs were supported by data from websites of Chinese cuisine recipes and eating history, consisting of 5 entity classes: dishes, ingredients, category of ingredients, nutrients, and diseases, along with their attributes and interrelations. A personalized meal recommendation algorithm was then developed to synthesize this information to generate packaged meals as outputs, considering disease-related nutritional constraints and personal dietary preferences. Furthermore, a validation study using a real-world data set collected from 96 community-dwelling older adults was conducted to assess ElCombo's effectiveness in modifying their dietary habits over a 1-month intervention, using simulated data for impact analysis. RESULTS: Our recommendation system, ElCombo, was evaluated by comparing the dietary diversity and diet quality of its recommended meals with those of the autonomous choices of 96 eligible community-dwelling older adults. Participants were grouped based on whether they had a recorded eating history, with 34 (35%) having and 62 (65%) lacking such data. Simulation experiments based on retrospective data over a 30-day evaluation revealed that ElCombo's meal recommendations consistently had significantly higher diet quality and dietary diversity compared to the older adults' own selections (P<.001). In addition, case studies of 2 older adults, 1 with and 1 without prior eating records, showcased ElCombo's ability to fulfill complex nutritional requirements associated with multiple morbidities, personalized to each individual's health profile and dietary requirements. CONCLUSIONS: ElCombo has shown enhanced potential for improving dietary quality and diversity among community-dwelling older adults in simulation tests. The evaluation metrics suggest that the food choices supported by the personalized meal recommendation system surpass autonomous selections. Future research will focus on validating and refining ElCombo's performance in real-world settings, emphasizing the robust management of complex health data. The system's scalability and adaptability pinpoint its potential for making a meaningful impact on the nutritional health of older adults.

Personalized nutrition with 3D-printed foods: A systematic review on the impact of different additives.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is one of the world's top novel technologies in the food industry due to the production of food in different conditions and places (restaurants, homes, catering, schools, for dysphagia patients, and astronauts' food) and the production of personalized food. Nowadays, 3D printers are used in the main food industries, including meat, dairy, cereals, fruits, and vegetables, and have been able to produce successfully on a small scale. However, due to the expansion of this technology, it has challenges such as high-scale production, selection of printable food, formulation optimization, and food production according to the consumer's opinion. Food additives (gums, enzymes, proteins, starches, polyphenols, spices, probiotics, algae, edible insects, oils, salts, vitamins, flavors, and by-products) are one of the main components of the formulation that can be effective in food production according to the consumer's attitude. Food additives can have the highest impact on textural and sensory characteristics, which can be effective in improving consumer attitudes and reducing food neophobia. Most of the 3D-printed food cannot be printed without the presence of hydrocolloids, because the proper flow of the selected formulation is one of the key factors in improving the quality of the printed product. Functional additives such as probiotics can be useful for specific purposes and functional food production. Food personalization for specific diseases with 3D printing technology requires a change in the formulation, which is closely related to the selection of correct food additives. For example, the production of 3D-printed plant-based steaks is not possible without the presence of additives, or the production of food for dysphagia patients is possible in many cases by adding hydrocolloids. In general, additives can improve the textural, rheological, nutritional, and sensory characteristics of 3D printed foods; so, investigating the mechanism of the additives on all the characteristics of the printed product can provide a wide perspective for industrial production and future studies.

Customized development of 3D printed anthocyanin-phycocyanin polychromatic oral film via chondroitin sulfate homeostasis: A platform based on starch and κ-carrageenan.

The development of oral film with diverse colors and customized nutrition is in line with the innovation of emerging food. In this study, polychromatic system was formed by regulating the ratio of phycocyanin (PC) to blueberry anthocyanin (BA). Further, chondroitin sulfate (CS) was utilized to achieve color-enhanced and homeostatic effects on PC-BA, and κ-carrageenan (KC) - starch complex was exploited as printing ink to construct oral film system. The color-enhanced effect of CS is mainly related to the complexation of sulfate groups, and the film-forming substrates are combined mainly through hydrogen bonding. In addition, the proportion of KC modulated the gel structure of printing ink, and affected 3D printability and physical properties of oral film. OF II (1.5 % KC content) had a uniform and dense network structure, with the most stable color and the highest BA retention (70.33 %) after 8 d of light exposure. Importantly, OF II had an excellent slow-release effect, and BA release rate was as high as 92.52 %. The optimized components can form polychromatic oral film with controllable color and structure, and provide new insights for the creation of sensory personalized and nutritionally customized food.

The fourth industrial revolution in the food industry-part II: Emerging food trends.

The food industry has recently been under unprecedented pressure due to major global challenges, such as climate change, exponential increase in world population and urbanization, and the worldwide spread of new diseases and pandemics, such as the COVID-19. The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) has been gaining momentum since 2015 and has revolutionized the way in which food is produced, transported, stored, perceived, and consumed worldwide, leading to the emergence of new food trends. After reviewing Industry 4.0 technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence, smart sensors, robotics, blockchain, and the Internet of Things) in Part I of this work (Hassoun, Aït-Kaddour, et al. 2022. The fourth industrial revolution in the food industry-Part I: Industry 4.0 technologies. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 1-17.), this complimentary review will focus on emerging food trends (such as fortified and functional foods, additive manufacturing technologies, cultured meat, precision fermentation, and personalized food) and their connection with Industry 4.0 innovations. Implementation of new food trends has been associated with recent advances in Industry 4.0 technologies, enabling a range of new possibilities. The results show several positive food trends that reflect increased awareness of food chain actors of the food-related health and environmental impacts of food systems. Emergence of other food trends and higher consumer interest and engagement in the transition toward sustainable food development and innovative green strategies are expected in the future.

Application of Protein in Extrusion-Based 3D Food Printing: Current Status and Prospectus.

Extrusion-based 3D food printing is one of the most common ways to manufacture complex shapes and personalized food. A wide variety of food raw materials have been documented in the last two decades for the fabrication of personalized food for various groups of people. This review aims to highlight the most relevant and current information on the use of protein raw materials as functional 3D food printing ink. The functional properties of protein raw materials, influencing factors, and application of different types of protein in 3D food printing were also discussed. This article also clarified that the effective and reasonable utilization of protein is a vital part of the future 3D food printing ink development process. The challenges of achieving comprehensive nutrition and customization, enhancing printing precision and accuracy, and paying attention to product appearance, texture, and shelf life remain significant.

Towards the creation of personalized bakery products using 3D food printing.

Bakery products with interesting color, shape and texture have been created using 3D food printing. Current research focuses on the development of new formulations and the optimization of the printing and post-printing treatment processes, in order to obtain high-quality 3D-printed bakery products. Knowledge about food rheology is useful for the development of dough formulations with good 3D-printability. Additives such as hydrocolloids could improve the printability of dough, and novel ingredients are introduced via 3D printing to produce functional bakery products with potential health benefits. One of the main future promises of 3D printing lies in its ability to produce bakery products that are personalized in terms of sensorial properties and nutritional composition, in order to meet the preferences and dietary requirements of individual consumers. This chapter addresses the most recent developments in 3D-printed bakery foods and highlights some important research topics to further advance this field.

Dry heating treatment: A potential tool to improve the wheat starch properties for 3D food printing application.

The futuristic technology of three-dimensional (3D) printing is an additive manufacturing that allows obtaining creative and personalized food products. In this context, the study of food formulations (named as "inks") to be processed through 3D printing is necessary. This work investigated the use of dry heating treatment (DHT), a simple and safe method, to improve the wheat starch properties aiming to produce hydrogels to be used as "inks" for 3D printing. Wheat starch was processed by dry heating for 2 (DHT_2h) and 4 h (DHT_4h) at 130 °C. Modified wheat starches showed an increase in granule size, but processing did not alter the granule's shape nor surface, neither alter the molecular functional groups. On the other hand, DHT promoted slight molecular depolymerization, and reduction of starch crystallinity. Hydrogels "inks" based on the modified starches showed lower peak apparent viscosity during pasting, higher structural strength at rest, higher resistance to external stresses, higher gel firmness, and lower syneresis than hydrogels based on native starch. The hydrogels based on starch DHT_4h showed the best printability (greater ability to make a 3D-object by layer-by-layer deposition and to support its structure once printed) and this "ink" showed better reproducibility. Another point observed is that DHT extended the texture possibilities of printed samples based on wheat starch hydrogels. These results suggested that DHT is a relevant process to improve the properties of hydrogels based on wheat starch, making this ink suitable for 3D printing application.

Development and Consumer Perception of a Snack Machine Producing Customized Spoonable and Drinkable Products Enriched in Dietary Fiber and Protein.

The aim of the study was to evaluate consumer perceptions toward customized snacks produced with a Healthy Snack Machine (HSM) prototype, at-site of the purchase and consumption. The present study had a multi-disciplinary approach including both snack product and HSM development (hardware and user interface). Snack development included both instrumental (viscosity, colloidal stability) and sensory characterization (by trained sensory (N = 10) and consumer (N = 55) panels) of spoonable and drinkable, oat- and dairy-based snack products, fortified with protein and/or dietary fiber. The protein and fiber addition reduced viscosity in spoonable products but did not affect the consistency of drinkable samples. Oat-based samples differed from dairy-based in multiple attributes in sensory profiling. In consumer sample testing, sample odor and taste were the most and least preferred aspects, respectively. In the snack machine testing, a qualitative consumer study (N = 33) showed that the HSM was easy to use, the user interface was clear, the ordering process was quick, and the participants were interested in using the HSM in the future. The snack choices (spoonable/drinkable and dairy/oat base) made by the consumers were distributed equally, but the berry-flavor was preferred over cocoa and vanilla. The most common HSM usage scenarios were "between work/school and hobbies" and "in transit from one place to another".