SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A PERSONALIZED DAILY NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT PACKAGE

• US 20110014351A1
• Filed: 07/15/2010
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Pharmavite Direct, LLC (Otsuka Holdings Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Pharmavite Direct, LLC (Otsuka Holdings Company Limited)
• Inventors: REIDER, Carroll, Bacharach, Larry, Co, Eric
• Application Number:
  US12/837,210
• Publication Number:
  US 20110014351A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 426/648
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets

Abstract

A computer-implemented method, apparatus, system, and packaging for providing a daily nutritional supplement component regimen, comprising a series of daily packets each containing dosage forms selected by a series of answers to questions provided by a consumer.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing a daily nutritional supplement component regimen, the method comprising:

creating, at a first computer, a plurality of questions, each question regarding a health condition of a user, each question having at least two possible answers, each answer representing a qualitative or quantitative characteristic of the user'"'"'s health condition, each health condition linked to a set of at least one predetermined recommended nutritional supplement components;

presenting the plurality of questions to the user on a second computer;

receiving at the first computer a user response to the plurality of questions, the first computer accepting one and only one response to each question;

identifying an original group of predetermined recommended nutritional supplement components at the first computer, each recommended nutritional supplement component being associated with a health condition of the user;

identifying at least one recommended nutritional supplement dosage form at the first computer based on the plurality of recommended nutritional supplement components; and

providing the user with a list of the at least one recommended nutritional supplement dosage form to the second computer.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising:

identifying any recommended nutritional supplement component that is an allergen for the user;

identifying any amount of a recommended nutritional supplement component that exceeds the recommended daily allowance of the user for the recommended nutritional supplement component;

identifying any recommended nutritional supplement component that violates a dietary restriction of the user;

removing any identified recommended nutritional supplement component or amount of recommended nutritional supplement component from the original group of nutritional supplement components and assembling a corrected group of nutritional supplement components;

selecting one or more dosage forms comprising the corrected group of nutritional supplement components; and

outputting the corrected group of nutritional supplement components and/or a list of dosage forms from the computer.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the health conditions comprise at least one of the following:

a physical condition;

a fitness condition; and

a lifestyle condition;

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein identifying the at least one recommended nutritional supplement component, further comprises:

identifying a multivitamin based on the gender of the user;

identifying a multivitamin based on the age of the user; and

/or

identifying at least one specific nutritional supplement component.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the nutritional supplement component comprises at least one of:

an individual vitamin supplement component,

a mineral supplement component,

a herb supplement component,

a coenzymes (CoQ10) supplement component,

a fish oil supplement component, and

a physterols supplement component.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one health condition is related to at least one of:

the age of the user;

the gender of the user;

the allergies of the user;

the eating habits of the user;

the alcohol consumption of the user;

the sugar consumption of the user;

the softdrink consumption of the user;

the caffeine consumption of the user;

the dietary restrictions of the user;

the family history of the user;

the medical history of the user;

medications taken by the user;

the calcium intake of the user;

the vitamin D intake of the user;

the pregnancy status of the user,

the lactation status of the user;

the premenstrual symptoms of the user;

the premenopausal symptoms of the user;

the menopausal symptoms of the user;

the breast cancer concerns of the user;

the urinary health concerns of the user; and

the prostate health concerns of the user.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one health condition is related to at least one of:

exercise,

cardiovascular or strength training,

exposure to air pollution,

exposure to second-hand smoke,

sunlight,

smoking, or

stress.

8. A method according to claim 1 wherein the at least one health condition is related to at least one of:

user'"'"'s over all health,

eye health,

respiratory health,

mood/emotional well-being,

memory/retention, and

joint health.

9. A method according to claim 1, comprising updating, at the first computer, the association between nutritional supplement components and health conditions based on at least one of:

at regular intervals;

each time the knowledge base is updated; and

each time a supplement component is added/removed.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein additional questions are asked or are not asked in the questionnaire based on the user'"'"'s response to previous questions.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein identifying the at least one recommended nutritional supplement component comprises:

correcting for the allergens of the user;

correcting for a violation of a maximum daily allowable intake of the user;

correcting for the dietary preferences of the user; and

identifying combination nutritional supplement dosage forms comprising nutritional supplement components.

12. A method according to claim 1, comprising:

building a nutritional supplement component knowledge base at a first computer;

identifying at least one nutritional supplement component based on the knowledge base at the first computer.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least one recommended nutritional supplement dosage form is a multivitamin and at least one recommended nutritional supplement dosage form combines a first nutritional supplement component and a second nutritional supplement component.

14. A method according to claim 1, wherein selecting a plurality of recommended nutritional supplement dosage forms comprises selecting no more than ten nutritional supplement dosage forms.

15. A method according to claim 1, comprising automatically directing a dispensing device to dispense the at least one dosage form.

16. A method according to claim 1, wherein the dispensing device comprises:

a plurality of containers, each container containing a plurality of nutritional supplement dosage forms of a single type;

a dispenser coupled to each of the containers, each dispenser adapted to dispense a nutritional supplement into a common package on command;

a controller coupled to each dispenser and adapted to command one or more dispensers to dispense a nutritional supplement into the common package;

a nutritional supplement dosage form packaging module adapted to package at least one recommended nutritional supplement dosage form selected from a plurality of available nutritional supplement dosage forms contained in the nutritional supplement dosage form packaging module into a plurality of daily nutritional supplement dosage form packages;

wherein the controller receives an outputted list of dosage forms from the computer in claim 1 and controls the dispensers accordingly.

17. A nutritional supplement component dosage form kit comprising:

a plurality of daily nutritional packets, personalized to an individual person, each of the daily nutritional packets containing at least one nutritional supplement dosage form, each nutritional supplement dosage form selected by a computer-implemented method for customizing a recommended nutritional supplement dosage form regimen, the method comprising the steps of claims 16, wherein each of the at least one nutritional supplement dosage forms of the kit are linked to an answer to a question about a health condition of the person.

20. An apparatus according to claim 19, comprising

a plurality of containers, each container adapted to contain a plurality of nutritional supplement dosage forms of a single type;

a dispenser coupled to each of the containers, each dispenser adapted to dispense a nutritional supplement into a common package on command;

a controller coupled to each dispenser and adapted to command one or more dispensers to dispense a nutritional supplement into the common package;

a nutritional supplement dosage form packaging module adapted to package at least one recommended nutritional supplement dosage form selected from a plurality of available nutritional supplement dosage forms contained in the nutritional supplement dosage form packaging module into a plurality of daily nutritional supplement dosage form packages;

wherein the controller receives an outputted list of dosage forms from the computer in claim 1 and controls the dispensers accordingly.

18. An apparatus comprising:

one or more computer input devices operable to receive data;

a storage device operable to maintain a question-answer-nutritional supplement map;

a processor configured to generate a dietary supplement regimen in response to answers to health condition questions provided at the input device, the regimen including a plurality of nutritional supplement components, each component being associated with a particular health condition; and

an output device configured to deliver the regimen.

19. An apparatus according to claim 18, comprising a dispensing device configured to dispense the dietary supplements of the regimen.

21. An apparatus according to claim 18 comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs the processor to perform the following steps of generating a dietary supplement regimen:

creating, at a first computer, a plurality of questions, each question regarding a health condition of a user, each question having at least two possible answers, each answer representing a qualitative or quantitative characteristic of the user'"'"'s health condition, each health condition linked to a set of at least one predetermined recommended nutritional supplement components;

presenting the plurality of questions to the user on a second computer via the input device;

receiving at the first computer a user response to the plurality of questions, the first computer accepting one and only one response to each question;

identifying an original group of predetermined recommended nutritional supplement components at the first computer, each recommended nutritional supplement component being associated with a health condition of the user; and

identifying at least one recommended nutritional supplement dosage form at the first computer based on the plurality of recommended nutritional supplement components.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs a microprocessor to perform the following steps of generating a dietary supplement regimen:

creating, at a first computer, a plurality of questions, each question regarding a health condition of a user, each question having at least two possible answers, each answer representing a qualitative or quantitative characteristic of the user'"'"'s health condition, each health condition linked to a set of at least one predetermined recommended nutritional supplement components;

presenting the plurality of questions to the user on a second computer via the input device;

receiving at the first computer a user response to the plurality of questions, the first computer accepting one and only one response to each question;

identifying an original group of predetermined recommended nutritional supplement components at the first computer, each recommended nutritional supplement component being associated with a health condition of the user; and

identifying at least one recommended nutritional supplement dosage form at the first computer based on the plurality of recommended nutritional supplement components.