Personalised nutrition: Linking genetics, lifestyle and long-term health

Daniel Herman, Founder and CEO, Bio-Synergy, and Dr Katherine Rahill, CSO, Bio-Synergy, in an interview with Kalyani Sharma talks about their plans for the Indian market and discuss the role of genetic and epigenetic insights in personalised nutrition, the challenges of adapting these approaches for India, and their implications for preventive health and longevity

Bio-Synergy started as a sports nutrition company and is now moving into precision genetics. What drove this shift, and how do you see genetics changing the way people approach nutrition and preventive health?

Daniel Herman: For me, it has always been about empowering people to become the best version of themselves. DNA and epigenetics were already areas of scientific interest a decade ago, but the technology was prohibitively expensive for most people. Advances in science and reductions in testing costs have created an opportunity to make these insights more accessible.

This also complements our supplements business. For instance, if someone discovers that they have a vitamin D deficiency, addressing it can make a significant difference to their health and energy levels. We have seen athletes identify deficiencies and make meaningful improvements after addressing them. Equally, if testing indicates that someone may not benefit from certain supplements, they can avoid spending money on products they do not need.

The insights can also inform future product development by helping us identify patterns in nutritional requirements and potential deficiencies across the populations we study. More broadly, DNA and epigenetics can help people make more informed decisions about their long-term health. For us, this is a natural extension of our existing work in sports nutrition and supplementation.

India has significant genetic diversity as well as wide variations in diet, lifestyle and metabolic health. How are you adapting Bio-Synergy’s approach for the Indian market rather than simply bringing a UK-developed model to India?

Dr Katherine Rahill: The first step is to understand the population without making assumptions about what the data will show. When comparing populations, researchers need to account for variables that may influence the findings and avoid allowing preconceived ideas to shape their interpretation.

India is particularly diverse, and it would be inappropriate to treat the entire country as one uniform population. Health and lifestyle patterns can vary significantly between regions and communities. We therefore need to establish a baseline through objectively collected data and build our understanding iteratively.

Machine learning can help identify patterns in large datasets, but it cannot replace clinical expertise or make diagnoses on its own. Human experts must interpret the findings, taking into account the context in which the data was collected. Feedback and knowledge from local populations are equally important.

Our approach is not to arrive with a fixed solution developed in the UK and apply it uniformly in India. It is to understand the population, identify relevant patterns and refine our approach as more data and contextual insights become available.

You are entering India with the DNA + Epigenetics Kit alongside nutraceuticals and the BLAISE AI platform. What do you see as the biggest opportunity, and the biggest challenge, in building a credible personalised health ecosystem in India?

Daniel Herman: One of the biggest challenges is awareness and education. Personalised health based on genetic and epigenetic insights is still a relatively new concept for many people, both in India and globally. It is important to communicate what the technology can offer and how people can use the information meaningfully.

Engagement with healthcare professionals, scientific discussions and public education will be important in building that understanding. As we have seen, some medical professionals are already aware of the potential benefits. The next step is to make this information accessible to a wider population.

For India, improving access to the technology and products is the immediate priority. Once people understand their individual health profiles, they can use these insights to make more informed decisions about their nutrition and lifestyle.

Epigenetics gives us a picture of how lifestyle and environment can influence gene expression. How should doctors and consumers interpret this information without treating an epigenetic snapshot as a fixed measure of health?

Dr Katherine Rahill: Any test, whether a blood test or a genetic assessment, has limitations because it captures information at a particular point in time. The findings need to be understood in context rather than treated as a complete picture of an individual’s health.

What distinguishes our approach is the depth of information provided. The assessment generates an extensive report with multiple data points and explanations, offering more context than a set of isolated numbers. However, the results still represent a baseline and should not be interpreted in isolation.

Several factors can influence test results, and changes in health markers may reflect circumstances at the time of testing. Follow-up assessments and a broader understanding of an individual’s lifestyle, medical history and health interventions are important to interpret these findings meaningfully.

It is also essential to document the advice individuals receive, whether from our internal advisors or their general practitioners, and consider how their health and lifestyle evolve over time. A series of test results without information about what happened between assessments may not tell the complete story.

At the same time, access and affordability remain important considerations. Not everyone can afford frequent medical consultations and repeated testing. Our aim is to make relevant health information more accessible and empower people with greater awareness of their bodies. This knowledge can help individuals participate more actively in decisions about their health, while recognising that personalised testing does not replace appropriate medical advice or clinical evaluation.

Understanding the relationship between physical health, mental wellbeing and lifestyle is also important. Greater awareness of how the body functions can help individuals make more informed choices and take a more active role in managing their long-term health.

Your experience at NASA involved human performance and health in extreme environments. What lessons from that work are relevant to everyday health, particularly around ageing, recovery, nutrition and the long-term impact of lifestyle?

Dr Katherine Rahill: Astronauts are among the healthiest individuals you will ever encounter, and they are selected in part for their physiological resilience. Even so, they experience significant health decrements and risks in the spaceflight environment. What I always found most striking is how readily the human body adapts to space. That adaptation is impressive, but it can also produce complications when astronauts return to Earth.

Microgravity is the clearest example. Without Earth’s gravity, the body no longer exerts the force it normally relies on to maintain muscle mass and bone density. To counteract this, exercise in space is heavily regimented, with astronauts working out for roughly two hours a day on average. Astronauts are also exposed to elevated levels of radiation, which over time can affect their physiology at the genetic and systemic levels and may leave long-lasting effects on health and performance.

My takeaway for aging, recovery, and long-term health is that a balanced, moderate lifestyle matters most when it is tailored to a person’s specific genetic and biological makeup. A one-size-fits-all approach will never work for everyone when the goal is longevity and quality of life. Depending on the environments we live in and the exposures we encounter each day, we may not be fully aware of which health issues originate internally, which are driven by external factors, and which external factors are acting as confounding influences on an existing condition.

Our bodies are resilient, and humans are highly adaptable. At some point, though, we have to ask how far a person should be required to adapt to an extreme or stressful environment, and at what cost to their longevity. Much of this comes down to conditions we can control. At Bio-Synergy, we want to give people greater autonomy and a stronger sense of agency over their day-to-day lives and activities, especially those who want to improve their health. Genetics is only part of the picture. When environmental influences are identified and addressed alongside an understanding of a person’s genetics and current health status, the result can be a meaningful improvement in future health and longevity.