Nutrition dispensers and method for producing optimal dose of nutrition with the help of a database arrangement

• US 7,295,889 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2002
• Issued: 11/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Lähteenmäki, Pertti
• Original Assignee: Lähteenmäki, Pertti
• Inventors: Lähteenmäki, Pertti
• Primary Examiner(s): Crawford; Gene O.
• Assistant Examiner(s): WAGGONER, TIMOTHY R
• Application Number:
  US10/499,988
• Publication Number:
  US 20050048461A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,786 Days
• Field of Search: 700/233, 700/237, 700/236, 700/239, 700/240, 700/242, 700/241, 435/3
• US Class Current: 700/233
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 3/002 Compounding apparatus specially for enteral or parenteral nutritive solutions bottling liquids B67C
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 2101/06 Mixing of food ingredients
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 2101/22 Mixing of ingredients for pharmaceutical or medical compositions
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 33/84 Mixing plants with mixing receptacles receiving material dispensed from several component receptacles, e.g. paint tins
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16B 30/00 ICT specially adapted for sequence analysis involving nucleotides or amino acids
• CPC Class Codes: G16B 50/00 ICT programming tools or database systems specially adapted for bioinformatics
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets

Abstract

A nutrition dispenser (100) for producing doses of nutrition and/or medication and a method for producing the doses with the help of the nutrition dispenser. A database arrangement is linked to the nutrition dispenser (100), and further, the nutrition dispenser typically includes the user interface (102) for feeding at least the information of the user, and rooms (108) for storing different nutrients and/or medical substances. In addition, the nutrition dispenser is arranged to define the optimal dose of nutrition and/or medication intended for the person consuming the dose, and its ingredients, amounts and proportions of ingredients at least partly with the help of the database arrangement. The nutrition dispenser can further comprise the equipment (110) for measuring out the defined nutrients.

Claims

1. A dispenser (100) for defining and preparing an optimal dose of nutrition, medication or cosmetic personalized for a user, comprising:

a user interface (102) configured for feeding in information about the user;

an equipment (106) connected to the user interface, the equipment configured to define an optimal dose, personalized for the user, of at least one of a nutrition, a medication and a cosmetic;

a telecommunication connection (306) for connecting the equipment (106) to a database (304) storing i) user information, ii) information of the user'"'"'s genetic background, and iii) information about at least one of nutrients and medical substances;

rooms (108) preserving at least two substances, the substances being at least one of the nutrients and the medical substances; and

a dosing device (110) connected to the rooms (108) and to the equipment (106), and configured to measure out an amount of the substances preserved in the rooms, wherein,

the stored user information, the user'"'"'s genetic background information, and the information about at least one of the nutrients and the medical substances are communicated from the database (304) through the telecommunication connection (306) to the equipment (106),

the equipment (106) defines the optimal dose based on the fed-in user information together with the the stored user information, the user'"'"'s genetic background information, and the information about the at least one of the nutrients and the medical substances communicated from the database (304) through the telecommunication connection (306) to the equipment (106), and

the dosing device (110) measures out the substances preserved in the rooms (108) to prepare the optimal dose as defined by the equipment (106).

2. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein, the user'"'"'s genetic background information stored in the database comprises genetic map information about the user including information concerning genes of the user, the user gene information being based on genetic tests made to the user.

3. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein,

the rooms (108) are containers that are air-tight, moisture-proof, and one of cooled and heated, and

the equipment (106) comprises an information system utilizing fuzzy logic.

4. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein,

the user information comprises the user'"'"'s age, gender, nutrient limitations, medical substance limitations, allergy informations, and environmental information,

the environmental information includes temperature, energy consumption, sports the user participates in, a level of difficulty for each sport, and a duration of performance for each sport,

the user interface (102) is configured for the user to input at least some of the user information responsive to questions presented to the user, and

the questions presented to the user include information identifying a suggested dose to be prepared for the user and whether the user accepts the suggested dose.

5. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the database (304) comprises information selected from the group consisting of:

at least one probability weighting coefficient for at least one gene influencing at least one health property specific to the user with a certain probability;

at least one probability weighting coefficient for at least one of a nutrient and a medical substance influencing at least one health property in a healing or harmful manner with regard to the user with a certain probability;

at least one probability weighting coefficient for at least one gene together with at least one of a nutrient and a medical substance influencing at least one health property in a healing or harmful manner with regard to the user with a certain probability;

at least one probability weighting coefficient for the user being allergic to at least one of a nutrient and a medical substance with a certain probability;

an optimal quantity proportion of at least two substances selected from the group consisting of nutrients, medical substances and combinations thereof;

information which at least one foodstuff has at least one nutrient in the database (304).

6. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the equipment (116) receives information from the database (304) to perform at least one of:

comparing at least one gene from the genetic map of the user with genetic map information, which includes the gene, in and the database (304), selecting a probability weighting coefficient between the gene and at least one health property influenced by the gene;

selecting a probability weighting coefficient between at least one health property and at least one of a nutrient and a medical substance, which influences the health property either in a healing or harmful manner with regard to the user with a certain probability;

forming information describing the suitability of at least one of a nutrient and a medical substance for the user with the help of a probability weighting coefficients;

arranging substances, each substance being one of a nutrient and a medical substance, influencing at least one health property in a healing or harmful manner with regard to the user with a certain probability, and probabilities related to the substances being used for the optimal dose when defining information describing the suitability of the substances for the user to such an order that the substance with the highest probability to have a healing effect on the health property is placed as the most important, and delivering the information of the substances to the equipment (106);

registering the amounts of at least one of a nutrient and a medical substance consumed by the user in a cumulative manner and so that the at least one of a nutrient and medical substance consumed can be connected with the user'"'"'s identifier information;

calculating the combination of at least two probability weighting coefficients between substances selected from the group consisting of nutrients, medical substances, and mixtures thereof and health properties from different genes of the database (304), the genes also present in the user, the value of the combination being closest to the best value, and forming a dose comprising the substances best suitable for the user by picking the information about the substances, to which the probability weighting coefficients are related, with which the best value was formed, and delivering the information about the substances to the nutrition dispenser;

comparing the cumulative amounts of a substances selected from the group consisting of nutrients, medical substances, and mixtures thereof consumed by the users within the selected period of time with the intake limits set for the substances, selecting at least one substance, the cumulative amount of which in the period of time is below the area of the defined intake limit, and if the value of the probability weighting coefficient for the substance influencing a certain health property in a healing manner is above the predetermined limit, suggesting the substance to be added to the dose of substance to be produced for the user.

7. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the database (304) is a distributed database (304) so that at least one first part of the database (304) is located in at least one first data processing equipment and at least one second part of the database (304) is located in at least one second data processing equipment.

8. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the database (304) comprises at least one piece of information selected from the group consisting of:

information related to the relations between illnesses and nutrition/genes characteristic of reference groups of the user,

information about medical substances and the effects on the change in the state of illnesses and the change in the metabolic and nutritive and/or medical state,

information concerning the environment of reference groups,

information related to the state of health of the user and the structure and/or functional state of the genes of the user,

information related to the environment of the user, information related to the physical performances performed by the user, information related to the factors caused by the growth environment of the nutrition intended to for the user, and

information related to the manufacturing method of at least one dose of nutrition, medication and/or cosmetic intended for the user, the amount and time of consuming.

9. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein each of the at least two substances is selected from the group consisting of a raw material, a semi-processed product, a processed product, a synthetically manufactured nutrient and/or medical substance, and combinations thereof.

10. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein each of the at least two substances is, individually, in a form selected from the group consisting of liquid, concentrate, powder, emulsion, tablet, capsule, pill, granule and pieces of ice.

11. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the substances preserved in the rooms (108) is selected from the group consisting of:

water, flavour substance, vitamin, micronutrients, fibre, flavonoids, amino acids, protein, sugar, mineral, lycopen, carbohydrates, fat, minerals, substances containing scent, components of green tea, glucose, fructose, caffeine, guarana, green tea extract, pygnogenol, betaine, methylen-suiphonyl-methane (MSM), magnesium, potassium, chrome, carnitine, taurine, conroitine sulphate, glucose aminoglycanes, curcuma, antibodies, probiotics, prebiotics, herbs, passionflower, hop, oat sprout, lemon balm, and ethereal oils.

12. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein,

the user interface comprises at least one device selected from the group consisting of:

keyboard (102), control stick, a user interface utilising short-range radio link, a user interface utilising smart cards (208), a user interface utilising magnet cards, and

further comprising a printing equipment which may include a display (104) and a printer (212).

13. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the equipment (106) is configured to accept and, when defining the optimal dose, process as part of the fed-in user information each of:

name, ID information, age, gender, length, weight, allergy, liking, special diet, at least part of the genetic map, information about genetic background and structure, genotype (DNA), functional state of genes, tribe, group, nationality, illnesses, mental state, medication, living environment, working environment, type of work, family relations, individual history, work or sports performance, fat percentage, muscular mass, water mass, blood pressure, blood sugar, hemoglobin, cholesterol, locomotoric illness, depression, cardiac disease, hypertension, asthma, headache, migraine, mental illness, illnesses caused by alcohol, dementia, and hormone-dependent cancer.

14. The dispenser according to claim 1, configured to accept and, in defining the optimal dose, process performance and fitness information from a fitness device (402) used by the user, the performance and fitness information being accepted from a source selected from the group consisting of:

a telecommunications connection, a magnetic card, a smart card, a printed code, and a short-range radio link.

15. The dispenser, according to claim 1, wherein, the defined optimal dose is communicated from the equipment via a short-range radio link to a mobile station of the user, via a smart card read/write equipment to a smart card of the user, via a magnetic card read/write equipment to a magnetic card of the user, and via the telecommunication connection to the database (304).

16. The dispenser according to claim 1, further comprising:

a mixer (112) for mixing the substances to a finished optimal dose of nutrition, medication or cosmetic and into a form dispensed to the user.

20. A dispenser (100) of claim 1, further comprising:

a housing that houses the user interface (102), the rooms (108), the dosing device (11), and the telecommunication connection (306),

wherein, each of the database (304) and the equipment (106) is, individually, one of housed by the housing and operatively connected to the housing.

17. A system (700) for producing a dose of nutrition, medication or cosmetic, comprising:

a nutrition dispenser (100) configured to produce a dose of nutrition, medication or cosmetic;

a database (304) comprising i) stored user information, ii) user genetic background information, and iii) information about at least one of nutrients and medical substances;

an information system (303) comprising memory equipment and configured to process and analyze the stored user information, the user genetic background information, and the information about the at least one of nutrients and medical substances from the database (304) so as to define an optimal dose of nutrition, medication or cosmetic for the user;

data transmission connections (706, 710) connecting the database (304) and the nutritional dispenser (100) to the information system (303), wherein,

the information system (303) defines the optimal dose of nutrition, medication or cosmetic for the user based, in part, on the user genetic background information from the database (304), and

the nutrition dispenser (100) measures out nutrient and/or medical substances to produce the defined optimal dose of nutrition, medication or cosmetic personalized to the user.

18. A method for producing an optimal dose of nutrition, medication or cosmetic for a user with a nutrition dispenser, comprising:

entering information about a user into a user interface, wherein the information is entered by one of i) the user for which the optimal dose is produced and ii) a person other than the user;

defining an optimal dose of nutrition, medication or cosmetic for the user, including defining amounts and proportions of substances, the substances being at least one of nutrients and medical substances, the defined optimal dose being based on at least the information entered about the user, the user'"'"'s genetic background information, and information about substances for nutritions, medications or cosmetics; and

measuring out the defined amounts and proportions of the substances from a nutrition dispenser.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

mixing the measured defined substances in the nutrition dispenser to form a finished optimal dose of nutrition, medication or cosmetic for dispensing; and

dispensing the optimal dose of nutrition, medication or cosmetic from the nutrition dispenser into a serving dish or bottle.