Innovations in Nutrition: Reducing Healthcare Costs through Technology and Science
Reducing the Healthcare Cost of Poor Nutrtion
I recently provided testimony to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Feeding a Healthier America: Current Efforts and Potential Opportunities for Food is Medicine (Full Video)
I was asked to help the committee understand the state of technology and how that technology may address some aspects of the $1.9T we spend each year on the healthcare cost of poor nutrition.
My testimony is the foundation of a broader innovation strategy to improve food, health, and climate. It is a large opportunity that we have been working on for more than 10 years.
When a solution appears, it is hard to see the decades of hard work that led to the point that innovation is obvious. We are still far from our goal, but the gale winds of creative destruction are accelerating. And we have the helm.
While higher interest rates have drawn many investors away from this opportunity for the moment, interest rates can not stop the fact that everyone wants to be healthier. The cost of metabolic disease is growing every day. The burden of obesity lowers GDP.
We remain focused on finding the best innovations we can, attracting more investment, building strong networks of early adopters for these new technologies, and helping policymakers understand the role of innovation and creative destruction to improve health and economic growth.
Food is Health
My lesson from my senate testimony and many conversations every day is that while we investors see the answer coming into focus, many do not. We work with a network of companies, customers, and policymakers, from the dirt in our farms to the cardiac care units in our hospitals. A wide array of industries, science, skills, and policy.
As investors, we have a backstage pass to the future through the investments we make today, which will impact society 5, 10, and 15 years from now. Rather than keep that a secret, we will be launching an additional substack on Food is Health. The intent of this new newsletter is to reveal the 1000s of little innovations occurring today, that are the building blocks of Food is Health. We will highlight perspectives from the entire Food is Health ecosystem so that you can take your role as a customer, entrepreneur, investor, or pundit focused on eliminating the healthcare cost of poor nutrition. Subscribe to get the inaugural issue when we launch.
My Full Testimony
I submitted a longer written testimony with references and more details. It is worth a read.
My Spoken Testimony
Chairman Markey, Ranking Member Marshall, and distinguished members, it is my pleasure to appear before you today to reflect on the innovations reducing the healthcare cost of poor nutrition.
My name is Carter Williams. I am an engineer with degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic and MIT. Over the last 35 years I have focused on innovation in complex systems. Spanning Aerospace, energy, agriculture and health. I served in senior roles in Boeing’s Phantom Works, and several successful startups.
Since 2014, I have led iSelect, a venture fund focused on the theme Food is Health. Investing in more than 70 AgTech and HealthTech startups.
Over the last 10 years we have meet with more than 5,000 entrepreneurs.
This is what we have learned.
The US spends $1.7T on food, and $1.9T on the healthcare cost of poor nutrition. Type 2 diabetes kills 283 Americans every day. Goldman Sachs concludes that US GDP would grow 1% annually if we cured obesity.
In 2000, the US sequenced the human genome. Launching companies with breakthroughs in immunotherapy and vaccines. Reshaping treatment.
But we still have a have a problem, that can be solved with similar thinking.
For 350k years humans were thin. In the last 50 years, we are fat and diabetic.
Innovation is stepping in.
In the near future grocery stores will offer seamless access to a nutritionist coaching you to better food. Through medically tailored meals. Or natural low cost forms of Ozempic. You eat what you enjoy. What you enjoy is better and affordable.
Your calorie intake is 25% less than your parents. 45% less from processed foods. You lose weight, and gain muscle mass.
Regenerative vegetables, frozen or fresh, are tasty, nutrient dense and affordable. Beef, managed on grass lands with virtual fences, net carbon positive, deliver balanced omega 3 and 6, reducing clogged arteries.
Processed foods are sweet and tasty, but zero diabetic impact. Made with heathy sugars from agriculture waste. Prebiotics fuel your gut microbiome. You sleep better. Less depression.
Medical care is now functional medicine, forestalling disease. Easily accessed. Health data is part of the grocery store mobile apps. The app knows your genome, blood work, blood pressure and food and purchases. Integrated into your health insurance. Reminding you of quality choices. Everyone gets standard of care. Comorbidities are a distant memory.
Your health data is protected by the blockchain. Anonymized. Integrated into a synthetic control arm model comparing your genetics and health to peer groups.
Inspired by the original human genome project, innovation is driven from The Human Microbiome Project, The Human Nutrition Project, and The Soil Microbiome Project.
Not all crops are healthy. Their nutrients vary. In field spectroscopy reveal the array of nutrients in meat, fish, vegetables, and grains. A form of nutritional quality control. Empowering farmers, ranchers, CPGs and processors to optimize nutrient density and cost. Product labels are accurate and complete.
Startups use AI to scan every journal, and historical artifact to find natural solutions that improve health. Testing 1000s of natural products against a digital twin of human nutrition, in billions of configurations. Replacing an array of pharmaceuticals with quality nutrients.
Farmers have transitioned to biologics that rebuild the soil microbiome. Improving crop nutrient intake. Crops are robust against disease, drought, and weeds.
UAVs using precision sprayers and lasers to reduce chemicals. Improving farmer profits, increasing yield and safer food.
These technology are all real. They exist today. Some controversial. Some more affordable. But more than enough to reduce the healthcare cost of poor nutrition.
American entrepreneurs in agriculture, food and health working with FDA, USDA, NIH and other NGOs, can solve this problem. Lowering cost, improving sustainability, increasing longevity and driving GDP growth.
Thank you for your consideration.