When it comes to weight management, there’s no single “best” diet. A new report published in Obesity suggests that understanding an individual’s biology, environment and behavior may be the key to making obesity prevention and treatment more effective and more sustainable.
Led by researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, the paper summarizes findings from a scientific workshop titled “Precision Prevention, Diagnostics and Treatment of Obesity: Pipedream or Reality?” The discussion brought together experts from around the world to examine how emerging tools in genetics, metabolism and behavior research could make obesity care more personalized.
The report highlights several opportunities:
Smarter diagnostics. Biomarkers and imaging tools could help identify obesity subtypes and guide tailored interventions.
Personalized care. Matching diet, exercise, and medication plans to individual biology may improve results and reduce side effects.
Earlier prevention. Recognizing people at higher risk could help target lifestyle and environmental interventions before obesity develops.
But the authors also warn that precision approaches are still in their early stages. More clinical trials, greater diversity in study populations, and affordable access to advanced tools will be essential before precision obesity medicine can be widely adopted.
“Despite tremendous interest in precision-based treatment, the field is still relatively young,” said co-chair Dr. Corby Martin. “We need rigorous clinical trials to empirically determine if precision treatment is indeed better than current practices. Unfortunately, few such trials exist, and those that do are not always supportive.”
Researchers see nutrition as a particularly promising area for personalization. Diet is one of the most powerful levers for metabolic health and tailoring it to an individual’s genetics or microbiome could one day help prevent obesity before it starts.
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health through Pennington Biomedical’s Nutrition Obesity Research Center and the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center, with additional support for early-career researchers through NIH postdoctoral fellowships.