Digital twins and the future of health

How data, medical testing, technology and behavior change are transforming health—while opening up opportunities and challenges for natural and organic products industry brands and retailers.

I don't have a digital twin—yet. But after chatting with experts in the fast-burgeoning field of personalized wellness and healthcare, I'm beginning to imagine one. I'll call him Giacomo, my Italian brother.

Giacomo will contain reams of data about me, thanks in part to wearable technology like watches, biosensors and patches, rings and even headbands and straps for wrists and ankles. Blood work will contribute information like hormone panels and vitamin levels. Stool samples will assess my microbiome.

Giacomo will hold genetic insights, based on my family history and testing. I'll constantly add lifestyle details too, chronicling my diet, exercise habits, sleep patterns, stress and more. My medical history gets sent to my twin. The flood of rich, personal data will empower Giacomo to advise me about ways to improve my health, from mental states to cardiovascular strength, inflammatory levels, flexibility and much more.

One request, Giacomo: Please endorse my adoration of pasta and wine.

The digital twin—a term that has grown buzzy in precision nutritional and health circles recently—is just one part of a blossoming new approach toward wellness. As AI capabilities expand rapidly, medical testing grows increasingly targeted and technology churns out more and more devices and platforms, they all are converging. The result—the potential for real-time understanding of health, and the tools to bolster it.

The new frontier poses vast implications—both opportunities and challenges—for the natural and organic products industry. As healthcare migrates from annual check-ups and treating conditions to constant health communication and preventative steps, people may consume differently—their diets might change, and supplements could become more integrated into daily life.

“As people gain more insight into their personal health needs, their expectations around food and product choices are changing. There’s a real opportunity to create new categories and shopping experiences that align with this shift,” says Nathan Price, chief scientific officer at Thorne, a health-tech and supplements company known for a wide range of products, at-home biomarker tests and a data-driven approach to personalized wellness. “Grocery retailers and brands that can meet consumer desires with personalized options have the opportunity to win big.” With a doctorate in bioengineering from University of California, San Diego, Price also serves as an affiliate professor at a non-profit biomedical research organization and the University of Washington, both of which are in Seattle.

Fresh intersections of several industries—diagnostics, digital health, data science, nutrition and consumer products—serve as the foundation of personalized medicine, he says. Linking them together is leading toward a reality where “a blood test might inform not just a medical treatment, but a grocery list or a supplement protocol.”

For brands and retailers that engage with the frontier of personalized medicine, opportunities for commercial success could flourish. But at the same time, those that ignore the proliferation of personal health advocates in everybody’s pocket could suffer. Chances are, the constant confidant won’t champion the health advantages of plowing through fistfuls of Oreos at lunch or making a bag of frozen chicken nuggets the dinner centerpiece. Healthier alternatives, however, might pass muster. In many ways, this is obvious. But looking at data that reveals in real time how those cookies and nuggets are affecting things like blood sugar might finally lead to real change.

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