Thorogood, co-founder and executive chair at Radicle Science, explained that AI-driven solutions are replacing the outdated one-size-fits-all approach, a move that particularly resonates with millennials seeking personalized wellness solutions. She added that diverse data in healthcare is important, noting how historical biases in clinical trials have led to ineffective treatments, especially for women and ethnic minorities.
“Women were not even included in clinical trials until the mid-90s, and since then, certainly the representation has improved,” she said. “Ethnicities have also been improving, but we’re nowhere near census levels. I think women and ethnicities have both been shortchanged by the system that is meant to protect our health.
“And because most FDA-approved drugs were tested predominantly on men, especially on white men, they cannot really be generalized to everyone, which is why we’re finding that these products that appear to have worked on the population they were tested on—men or white men, they don’t necessarily work the same on women or other ethnicities. And that’s why we have so many more side effects. That’s why we have misdiagnoses, and that’s why we have mistrust, especially among women.”
Thorogood added that it is ironic that many of these FDA-approved treatments are actually unproven for much of the population, noting that heterogeneity actually improves the quality of the data and its generalizability.
“Having these large data sets doesn’t just help precision wellness or personalized wellness, but it really helps with the generalizability of the data, which really, at the end of the day, improves health equity and public health as well,” she said.
Making the case for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Thorogood explained that DEI is about more than checking a box but about having data that truly represents the world.
“The real impact happens when diversity of the data, the diversity of the thinking, diversity of the participation, drives better business and better health decisions,” she said. “DEI really goes above and beyond and really goes towards representing real people with all their rich, messy dimensions, all the complexities of real humans.”
To hear more about how the one-size-fits-none approach can lead to better products and more consumer trust, listen to the NutraCast.
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