Summary
Background: A significant portion of individuals in the United States and worldwide experience
diseases related to or driven by diet. As research surrounding user-centered design
and the microbiome grows, movement of the spectrum of translational science from bench
to bedside for improvement of human health through nutrition becomes more accessible.
In this literature survey, we examined recent literature examining informatics research
at the interface of nutrition and the microbiome.
Objectives: The objective of this survey was to synthesize recent literature describing how
technology is being applied to understand health at the interface of nutrition and
the microbiome focusing on the perspective of the consumer.
Methods: A survey of the literature published between January 1, 2021 and October 10, 2022
was performed using the PubMed database and resulting literature was evaluated against
inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Results: A total of 139 papers were retrieved and evaluated against inclusion and exclusion
criteria. After evaluation, 45 papers were reviewed in depth revealing four major
themes: (1) microbiome and diet, (2) usability,(3) reproducibility and rigor, and
(4) precision medicine and precision nutrition.
Conclusions: A review of the relationships between current literature on technology, nutrition
and the microbiome, and self-management of dietary patterns was performed. Major themes
that emerged from this survey revealed exciting new horizons for consumer management
of diet and disease, as well as progress towards elucidating the relationship between
diet, the microbiome, and health outcomes. The survey revealed continuing interest
in the study of diet-related disease and the microbiome and acknowledgement of needs
for data re-use, sharing, and unbiased and rigorous measurement of the microbiome.
The literature also showed trends toward enhancing the usability of digital interventions
to support consumer health and home management, and consensus building around how
precision medicine and precision nutrition may be applied in the future to improve
human health outcomes and prevent diet-related disease.
Keywords
Consumer health informatics - microbiota - user-centered design - telemedicine - information
systems