Precision Nutrition Innovation Arena

Important results from the project

The aim of the project was to develop an ingestible biosensor and bespoke exhaled breath analysis to characterize the individual function of the intestinal microbiome in terms of protein and carbohydrate digestion. There is a high need for easy and minimally invasive precision health tools, instead of just faecal analysis, to develop healthy food. We have achieved the goal with the production of two prototypes, of which breath analysis already has been applied in two clinical studies, and the biosensor is in a development phase for application in human studies.

Expected long term effects

We expect that the sensor system for exhaled breath analysis will be used as a non-invasive analytical method assessing individual health effects associated to the gut microbiome’s ability digesting food. We expect that the ingestible sensor will be used to support the development of healthy food by assessing how much and where digestion of proteins and carbohydrate occurs in the gut.

Approach and implementation

The PNI project has been executed by Örebro University and Chalmers Technical University as a part of the national food research centre PAN Sweden and in collaboration with four industrial partners with interest in the interplay between healthy food (supplements) and the gut microbiome. They collaborated with competence and resources to develop novel precision medicine tools applied in mode-of-action and proof-of-concept studies.