How a personalized nutrient recipe is calculated.

1. The data the calculation starts from

• Genetics. Around 50 genes are analyzed, each with three possible genotypes. A gene is included when studies identify it as relevant to the metabolism of a micronutrient. Genetics act in three ways: a variant can block the conversion of a nutrient into its active form (for example folate or coenzyme Q10), it can make an otherwise beneficial substance unfavorable for that person (for example iron or omega-3), or it can raise the amount needed for the nutrient to be effective (for example selenium or vitamin D3).
• Body data. Sex, age and body weight. Age is recalculated from the date of birth for every production run, so the recipe follows the customer’s age.
• Diet and lifestyle. A questionnaire covering, among other things, fruit and vegetable intake, dairy products, a vegan or vegetarian diet, smoking, alcohol, sun exposure and training volume.
• Blood values, where available. They are the only input that describes the current state rather than a predisposition, and they therefore override the other inputs for that nutrient (see step 5).

2. How a single dose is derived

1. Base recommendation per nutrient.

   For every active ingredient, and for every age and every sex, Novogenia holds a recommended intake. It is derived from scientific studies and from the positions of scientific bodies, with the established reference values (D-A-CH, EFSA) as the frame. This recommendation is not a lifelong constant: it changes from year to year as the person ages.

2. Body weight and other physiological modifiers.

   A higher body weight means a higher metabolic turnover and a higher energy consumption, and the recipe is therefore calculated upwards, in particular for the nutrients involved in energy metabolism. A body weight below that of an average person moves the recipe downwards in the same way. Competitive sport raises the requirement, and age shifts it in both directions.

3. Genetic weighting.

   Where a genetic weakness is present, its effect is weighted using the peer-reviewed literature for that variant and Novogenia’s own PubMed-based reviews and the scores derived from them. Maximum genetic risk leads to the maximum dose of that nutrient; a below-average genetic problem leads to a below-average dose.

4. Diet and lifestyle

   from the questionnaire are applied to the same nutrient.

5. Blood values override everything else.

   Where a blood value for a nutrient exists, it takes precedence over all other inputs: a measured deficiency sets that nutrient to its maximum dose in any case, and a measured excess removes the nutrient from the recipe entirely. This applies regardless of what genetics, questionnaire, age, sex or body weight would otherwise suggest.

6. Several health areas per nutrient.

   Most nutrients are driven by more than one chapter of the analysis, and the highest resulting requirement counts. Omega-3, for example, is driven by HDL cholesterol, but also by inflammation, triglycerides, LDL, blood pressure and by cardiovascular, eye, brain, joint and blood-sugar health.

7. Window and safety ceiling.

   The calculated requirement is finally constrained as described in the next section.

3. The dosing window and the safety ceiling

EU law defines which nutrients and which forms are permitted in food supplements (Directive 2002/46/EC) and the reference intakes used for labelling (Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011). Harmonised minimum and maximum amounts are foreseen in Article 5 of the Directive but have never been adopted. The window below is therefore Novogenia’s own rule, built on the EU reference intakes and on the safety assessments of the European Food Safety Authority.

• Nutrients with a reference intake: minimum one third, maximum three times the reference intake.
• Documented exceptions: vitamin D3 and vitamin B12 go above that range; magnesium, zinc, calcium and copper stay below it, because their maximum is anchored to the EFSA upper intake level.
• Ingredients without a reference intake (omega-3, coenzyme Q10, alpha-lipoic acid, collagen, lutein, MSM, hyaluronic acid, phytosterols) have a fixed minimum and maximum per ingredient.
• Safety ceiling: for every nutrient with an EFSA tolerable upper intake level, the Novogenia maximum is at or below it. National statutory maximum amounts are complied with as well, even where studies would suggest that a higher dose could be beneficial.
• Capping rule: a calculated requirement below the minimum is set to the minimum, a requirement above the maximum is set to the maximum, and everything in between is used as calculated. No value outside the window is ever produced.

4. What follows from this method

• Identical doses at the limit are the expected result. If two people both have a requirement above the maximum, both receive the maximum. An identical dose does not mean an identical reason.
• A dose cannot be traced back to a single gene. Every dose is the product of around 50 genes plus age, sex, body weight, diet, lifestyle and, where present, blood values. A statement of the form “gene X gives nutrient Y at dose Z” would be incorrect, which is why no such statement is published.
• Reference intake values are a labelling figure. There is one value for all adults, with no differentiation by age or sex. It is neither a recommendation nor an upper limit, and it is not used as a dosing reference.
• Dosing downwards is intended. Where genotype or blood value point to a lower requirement, a lower dose is the professionally correct result, not an under-dose.
• Each nutrient is dosed individually and to the microgram. There is no coarse grid of pre-set strengths.

5. Where the product form constrains the dose

• Omega-3 is supplied in softgels and is therefore binary: 950 mg or none. Whether it is included depends on whether the other findings support it.
• Collagen is dosed at 1 g orally and is designed to work together with topical application, which reaches a local concentration in the skin that oral intake could not achieve even at ten times the dose. The collagen dose comes from the beauty analysis.
• Volume. The micronutrients are held in Microtransporters, small pellets that are packed into daily sachets. Where the individual requirement exceeds the volume of one sachet, it is split across two.

6. Why a recipe changes over time

A customer who has taken the product for a while will notice that the composition changes. The reasons are:

• the customer’s age, which is recalculated for every production run;
• an updated lifestyle or nutrition questionnaire;
• new analysis results, genetic or from blood;
• changes in health status reported by the customer;
• new scientific findings, which can revise earlier assumptions;
• improvements to the formulation, and a higher nutrient concentration in the pellets, which changes the number of pellets without changing the dose.

7. What is substantiated, and what is not

The individual elements of the method are substantiated: the reference values, the literature for each variant, and the EFSA safety assessments. For the finished, fully personalized combination product there are no large randomized trials proving an outcome benefit over standardized supplementation. That applies to personalized nutrigenetics as a whole, and Novogenia does not claim otherwise.