Ingredion is partnering with the AI-driven food tech Holobiome to understand how food ingredients can impact the gut microbiome and its functions.
Holobiome's platform generates insights into the performance of ingredients in the gut by utilising profiles from more than 90,000 individuals, along with a reference database containing more than two million gut bacterial genomes.
The firm will also provide its proprietary resources, including microbiome health models, a bacterial strain bank and a human gut simulator.
Ingredion stated that the pairing would support early evidence-informed hypotheses for which ingredients and methods merit "deeper R&D consideration from the company based on their impact on the gut microbiome" and help prioritise ingredients and food matrices "worth advancing to human testing."
According to a joint press release, the partnership will aim to enhance insights to help customers design products and formulate health claims that align with the evolving demands of intentional and personalised nutrition.
"The next era of food innovation may be defined by how intelligently we discover ingredients and how deeply we understand their impact on human biology," said Michael Leonard, SVP and Chief Innovation Officer, Ingredion.
"Ingredion's partnership with Holobiome is helping to deepen our scientific understanding of how ingredients may interact with the gut microbiome," added Philip Strandwitz, CEO and Founder, Holobiome.
This is an essential step to transition to a future in which nutrition can be broadly used to improve human health through the microbiome and transition to global consumer expectations for "intentional" and "made-for-me" nutrition.
The news also comes hot on the heels of Ingredion's announcement of its collaboration with Shiru, another AI food tech company.
Shiru’s platform can analyse more than 77 million natural protein sequences to identify the best new ingredients based on functionality and performance. This allows for the discovery of ingredients that enhance health without sacrificing taste, texture, or other important qualities.
Meanwhile, Holobiome's platform will then provide insights into how these ingredients function in the gut.