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Personalized nutrition (PN) approaches have been shown to help drive behavior change and positively influence health outcomes. This has led to an increase in the development of commercially available PN programs, which utilize various forms of individual-level information to provide services and products for consumers. The lack of a well-accepted definition of PN or an established set of guiding principles for the implementation of PN creates barriers for establishing credibility and efficacy. To address these points, the North American Branch of the International Life Sciences Institute convened a multidisciplinary panel. In this article, a definition for PN is proposed: "Personalized nutrition uses individual-specific information, founded in evidence-based science, to promote dietary behavior change that may result in measurable health benefits." In addition, 10 guiding principles for PN approaches are proposed: 1) define potential users and beneficiaries; 2) use validated diagnostic methods and measures; 3) maintain data quality and relevance; 4) derive data-driven recommendations from validated models and algorithms; 5) design PN studies around validated individual health or function needs and outcomes; 6) provide rigorous scientific evidence for an effect on health or function; 7) deliver user-friendly tools; 8) for healthy individuals, align with population-based recommendations; 9) communicate transparently about potential effects; and 10) protect individual data privacy and act responsibly. These principles are intended to establish a basis for responsible approaches to the evidence-based research and practice of PN and serve as an invitation for further public dialog. Several challenges were identified for PN to continue gaining acceptance, including defining the health-disease continuum, identification of biomarkers, changing regulatory landscapes, accessibility, and measuring success. Although PN approaches hold promise for public health in the future, further research is needed on the accuracy of dietary intake measurement, utilization and standardization of systems approaches, and application and communication of evidence.

BackgroundMetabolic syndrome, a constellation of metabolic risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, is one of the fastest growing disease entities in the world. Weight loss is thought to be a key to improving all aspects of metabolic syndrome. Research studies have suggested benefits from diets rich in vegetables and fruits in helping individuals reach and achieve healthy weights.ObjectiveTo evaluate the effects of a ready to serve vegetable juice as part of a calorie-appropriate Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet in an ethnically diverse population of people with Metabolic Syndrome on weight loss and their ability to meet vegetable intake recommendations, and on their clinical characteristics of metabolic syndrome (waist circumference, triglycerides, HDL, fasting blood glucose and blood pressure).A secondary goal was to examine the impact of the vegetable juice on associated parameters, including leptin, vascular adhesion markers, and markers of the oxidative defense system and of oxidative stress.MethodsA prospective 12 week, 3 group (0, 8, or 16 fluid ounces of low sodium vegetable juice) parallel arm randomized controlled trial. Participants were requested to limit their calorie intake to 1600 kcals for women and 1800 kcals for men and were educated on the DASH diet. A total of 81 (22 men & 59 women) participants with Metabolic Syndrome were enrolled into the study. Dietary nutrient and vegetable intake, weight, height, leptin, metabolic syndrome clinical characteristics and related markers of endothelial and cardiovascular health were measured at baseline, 6-, and 12-weeks.ResultsThere were significant group by time interactions when aggregating both groups consuming vegetable juice (8 or 16 fluid ounces daily). Those consuming juice lost more weight, consumed more Vitamin C, potassium, and dietary vegetables than individuals who were in the group that only received diet counseling (p < 0.05).ConclusionThe incorporation of vegetable juice into the daily diet can be a simple and effective way to increase the number of daily vegetable servings. Data from this study also suggest the potential of using a low sodium vegetable juice in conjunction with a calorie restricted diet to aid in weight loss in overweight individuals with metabolic syndrome.