What is a healthy diet?
The claims about good food made by journalists, food bloggers and dieticians are often contradictory. It’s no wonder many people are at a loss what a balanced diet should look like. The Quisper platform wants to unlock the potential of dietary and lifestyle advice based on sound scientific research.
The aim of the Quisper platform is to collect scientific validated datasets created by food scientists at various institutions. The platform also contains knowledge rules: ready-made lifestyle advice. A knowledge rule might describe how the intestinal absorption of certain vitamins can be increased or what diet fits people that need to decrease their salt intake.
The combined research data allow third parties to develop, for example, websites and apps that help dieticians or supermarkets to provide their clients with scientifically accurate nutrition and lifestyle advice. Another opportunity is the development of apps that support individuals who want to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
The Quisper platform was originally an initiative of QuaLiFY, which was taken over by the EIT Food community, part of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology. The Hyve is tasked with the technical realisation of the platform.
Platform set up
The online platform is built on top of Amazon Web Services (AWS), excluding the data sets and knowledge rules - those remain hosted by the data owners. Using the full-stack deployment features of AWS has the advantage that the entire infrastructure can be created, monitored and maintained in a single location. This includes user management, data storage, and request handling with an API Gateway. Also lower-level administration tasks such as DNS, SSL certificates and caching is done in AWS. All in all, the AWS model reduces maintenance overhead and development costs when compared to self-hosting.
Even though the platform is still being developed, authenticated users can already access and use its current content. For now, it’s free. By the time the platform is ready for its official launch, probably sometime next year, it is expected to contain enough datasets and knowledge rules to make solid claims about factors contributing to a healthy and an unhealthy diet and lifestyle. At that time, a service fee will be applied . By setting up payment rules, scientific institutions benefit from sharing their research data with others, while clients benefit from the fact that they get access to extensive knowledge libraries.
View the official Quisper leaflet.
Contact us if you want to contribute to the platform or want to use its content.
