AI: can it predict future disease?

Can a tool predict your future health? 

Science has always carried within it the promise of foresight.

We are entering an era where your health can be predicted long before symptoms appear. 

Instead of waiting for a disease to manifest, we can read the signals of the body and forecast what lies ahead.

In an article in Nature, researchers describe how they are building models to do this. The models combine genetics, environment, and lifestyle data to anticipate illness. 

Imagine being able to know, years in advance, your risk of diabetes, cancer, or neurodegenerative disease.

The tools are not limited to static markers like DNA. They are taking in data such as metabolism, immune function, even the microbiome. 

Each is a window into how your body is shifting in real time.

This changes medicine from reactive to predictive. For centuries, we treated disease only when it arrived. But by then, damage had already occurred. 

Prediction flips this model. 

If you know that your blood pressure or insulin sensitivity is at risk, you can act now. 

Diet, exercise, stress reduction can be deployed before the first symptom. 

Prevention becomes a science, not guesswork.

Here is the funny thing. A lot this is already know, with or with technology or science. Your body gives you signals or symptoms.

Excess weight, elevated body fat, poor sleep, poor energy. Feeling sleepy in the day. But we are not intuitive enough to pay heed to signals. Which is where scores, measures, prediction and data can be useful. 

When you see a report prepared for you, using your data, your willingness to act is greater. Which is why tools that predict your health are a great wake up call. 

They prompt you to act. Being able to make the right choices is the primary driver of a long and healthy life. 

Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain