Getting precise with nutrition
The crucial importance of nutrition to good health remains a constant in our lives but also represents an exciting area of scientific interest. The different ways each of our bodies respond to food, the basis for precision nutrition, can have dramatic impacts on important functions, like how quickly and efficiently your body uses sugar in your blood.
The field of precision nutrition considers many factors that influence critical metabolic actions. For example, recent discoveries about the surprising role of gut microbiota — the trillions of organisms that inhabit our intestines — in conditions as diverse as diabetes and depression are transforming our knowledge of nutrition. And new tools and technologies, from genomic sequencing to continuous glucose monitoring, are offering exciting new opportunities for research.
The Scripps Research Digital Trials Center is helping to define the new field of precision nutrition. Our first initiative in this area is PROGRESS — the PRediction Of Glycemic RESponse Study.
PROGRESS looks to enroll 1,000 participants (500 with type 2 diabetes and 500 without) who will provide biosamples and wear sensors that track important data such as physical activity, sleep, heart rate, and blood sugar. In order to understand how these data relate to nutrition intake, PROGRESS participants will take part in a ten-day tracking period where they will wear the devices while logging every meal. Together, these data will be studied along with any health outcomes documented in their electronic health records during the three-year follow-up period. Our goal is for PROGRESS to provide researchers with a window into metabolic health like no other.
