Campbell Soup bets big on personalized nutrition with $32m investment in Habit
San Francisco-based Habit develops nutritional recommendations based on an individual’s biology, metabolism and personal goals and then delivers customized meals to users’ doorsteps.
While many dietitians would argue that generic public health advice – eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, cut down on alcohol, stop smoking, exercise more – would transform the health of the nation if people actually followed it, Habit meets consumer demand for convenience and customization, offering personalized advice and then making it easy to follow by doing all the legwork for you, said Leroy Hood, co-founder of The Institute for Systems Biology and Habit science advisor.
“We’re at the beginning of a new era in nutrition - personalized nutrition, based on science, enabled by big data and computational mathematics that will change the way we eat forever. Habit is combining decades of research on systems biology into the most complete view possible of your body’s specific nutritional needs and tolerances.”
Nutrition, genetics and systems biology
Users of Habit – which will launch a beta testing program in January 2017 - will be sent an at-home test kit that measures more than 60 different biomarkers, including nutrition-related blood markers and genetic variations in DNA. Users also provide body metrics such as body weight and height, as well as health goals.
Habit - in which Campbell Soup is the sole investor - then synthesizes the data to determine a diet plan suited for each individual and delivers customized meals to users’ doors.
Read Neil Grimmer’s blog about the “personal wake-up-call” that inspired Habit.
Check out the team of scientists working at Habit, including Dr Ben Van Ommen, Principal Scientist and Director of the Systems Biology Program at TNO, and founder and first director (2004-2014) of NuGO, the Nutrigenomics Organization.
“The entire food industry is being transformed by the fusion of food, well-being and technology. Habit is well positioned in this wired for well-being space and poised to lead the personalized nutrition category. Campbell’s investment is part of our broader efforts to define the future of food, which requires fresh thinking, new models of innovation, smart external development and venture investing to create an ecosystem of innovative partners.”
Denise Morrison, President and CEO, Campbell Soup Co
“Look around you. We are all different shapes, sizes, ages, genders and we all have different lifestyles. It’s just common sense to reject the idea that we all need the same food, in the same amounts, at the same time. Science now backs up this common sense. Our bodies need different things. Our biology, our DNA, the blood running through our veins tells us that. We just need the tools to tune into our bodies and listen to what foods it’s asking for.”
Neil Grimmer, founder and CEO, Habit
The Habit Challenge Shake: Early on in the program, users will be given a meal replacement beverage. Post consumption, the lab will measure several nutrition biomarkers in order to provide insights into how users react to fats, carbs, and protein.
Personalized nutrition will be a hot topic at Food Vision USA 2016, which will explore whether it can successfully transition from lucrative niche to scalable mainstream. Find out more HERE.
