It is no surprise that the dietary supplement industry is a $30 billion industry as people become more and more mindful of their health. There are hundreds of dietary supplement out there promising different benefits. But a group of MIT graduates have recently developed a pill they say will be able to provide all these benefits.
There is a growing demand for different dietary supplements but taking different pills for the body's different needs is cumbersome for most, if not all, people. There are also instances that people might forget to take one.
To solve this problem and to provide more convenience, Multiply Labs embarked on a journey to create that single pill 'that would rule them all.'
Fred Parietti, Ph.D. and part of the Class of 2016 and founder of Multiply Labs, together with co-founder Alice Melocchi, a visiting scholar at the MIT-Novartis Center for Continuous Manufacturing in the MIT Department of Chemical Engineering, said the pill will become a game changer.
He added that some people even take more than 10 pills every day. But a single pill with all the medical and supplementary benefits they need will definitely change how people will look at supplements again.
For two years, he and Melocchi pursued the project and confirmed that 3D printing is a viable tool to create the same time-of-release profile produced by mass-produced capsules.
By using 3D robotics, the researchers are able to personalize the pills and create different formulations. One of their popular combinations is the morning release of Vitamin D and omega 3 and the later release of caffeine. Tiffany Kuo, who is also part of the team, said that a caffeinated supplement is not possible with mass-produced supplements.
Multiply Labs said that they partnered with a nutritionist to help them create these personalized dietary supplements. The nutritionists help them identify the gaps in a person's nutrition by taking into account their gender, weight, health goals, and diet. The group said that they will also include blood tests in the future.
The group has already taken preorders and will officially launch this spring.
