Beyond One-Size-Fits-All

Personalized nutrition starts from the inside out. Trending tools use biological insights like DNA and microbiome profiling to guide smarter food and supplement choices.

Getting to know your microbiome

The community of bacteria and other microorganisms within your digestive tract and their dynamic interactions shape how you metabolize and respond to different foods and supplements. Profiling your microbiome can reveal key digestive insights.

For example, around 25 percent of people lack a chief bacteria strain needed to fully digest resistant starch from foods like beans and whole grains into beneficial short-chain fatty acids. Similarly, certain microbiomes excel at activating dietary polyphenols into their usable metabolites.

“Diet, stress levels, and environmental exposure can all improve or impact our gut health,” says Moran. Aligning your diet with your microbiome’s needs has whole-body benefits.

Decoding your DNA

Genetic testing provides another layer of insight into your optimal diet and may help predict how your body reacts to certain nutrients.

Nutrigenomics testing can identify genes linked to slow caffeine metabolism or higher vitamin C and E requirements. A trending test, DNA methylation is being used to connect eating habits to cellular aging. One methylation study at the Institute for Cancer Research in Florence, Italy, found that women who diligently followed a Mediterranean-style diet for two years significantly slowed their biological aging.

Pairing DNA and microbiome testing with traditional dietary counselling can help create more targeted outcomes, such as personalized meal plans, precision supplement stacks, and even customized drip therapies.

Biotech skincare

As your body’s largest organ, your skin plays a central role in personalized wellness. Biotech skincare is reshaping the cosmetic world by producing natural, bio-based versions of ingredients once harvested from wild plants and animals.

Using plant-cell culture and fermentation technologies, biotech skincare creates sustainable bioactives, such as peptides, fatty acids, squalene, and growth factors, that hydrate, protect, and repair the skin without depleting natural resources.

To enhance the effectiveness of your skincare, “Detoxification practices help get the toxins out so there is room for nutrients in the skin cells to thrive and be rejuvenated,” explains Moran.

Another advantage of biotech skincare is the purity and consistency of active ingredients with less risk of contaminants. For example, dermal growth factors from rice are pure and vegetarianfriendly, while fermented hyaluronic acid closely mimics what the body naturally produces. Squalene, historically sourced from shark-liver oil, is now made by more environmentally conscious biotech yeast and bacterial sources.

Sexual telehealth

Emerging as a modern form of self-care, sexual telehealth is breaking down barriers to private, accessible, and personalized health services.

Instead of waiting for an in-person appointment, telehealth connects you with healthcare professionals through video consultations, phone calls, messaging systems, or apps. Many self-testing kits, such as cervix self-screening and HIV tests, can now be ordered by mail or picked up at local pharmacies and completed at home.

Smart wearables

Powered by AI and machine learning, smart wearables are turning personal data into real-time strategies for fitness, sleep, and relaxation.

Optimizing fitness and recovery

Today’s fitness wearables go beyond movement tracking. These technologies integrated into bands, patches, glasses, and clothing can track personal metrics like body temperature, blood oxygen, hydration, heart rate, and glucose levels. The insights provide a real-time picture of how your body responds to an activity, helping guide exercise and recovery strategies to your unique physiology.

Guiding sleep and relaxation

Wearables are also reshaping how we personalize sleep and stress management. By monitoring sleep patterns and disruptions, many wearables feed data into health platforms that generate personalized recommendations on bedtime routines, sleep environment, sleep timing, and sleep supplements.

For real-time support, neurofeedback devices, such as smart sleep masks, monitor brain activity and respond with soundscapes that teach the brain more efficient sleep patterns. “Sound and vibration, even on its own, has a deep and profound effect on the nervous system as it can soothe, stimulate, or shift our emotional and physiological state,” says Moran.

During the day, wearable biosensors in headbands and glasses can offer personalized support for focus and relaxation.

Beyond new technologies, Moran explains, “There are many other ways to simply calm and soothe anxiety, stress, and nervous system overload.” For example, “Sensory deprivation therapy (also known as floatation therapy), removes the outside stimulus so your nervous system can reset and deeply relax.”

Your health, your way

Wellness in 2026 isn’t one-size-fits-all. It’s personal, proactive, and designed around you. Having detailed, personalized information to take to your natural health practitioner or retailer can only enhance your overall wellness plan. “Be empowered to take your health into your own hands as much as possible,” says Moran. “There are so many great modalities, therapies, and support available.”

This article was originally published in the January 2026 issue of alive magazine.