Nestle's working on a kitchen appliance that creates custom vitamin cocktails
If Nestlé's new "Iron Man" project ends up a success, your morning routine could go like this: 1.) Take a shower. 2.) Eat breakfast. 3.) Brew your very own vitamin supplements. According to Bloomberg, the Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences is developing a device (possibly like its Nespresso coffee-making machines) that can make supplements on the spot based on your body's needs. Since each dose -- which might come in powder or capsule form -- is tailored for you, NIHS director Ed Baetge says it's going to be more effective than anything on the market. Then again, it's worth remembering that there are many scientists who question the health benefits of vitamin supplements in the first place. Plus, there could be some very high costs involved in Nestlé's vision: For the vitamin-mixing machine to work properly you'll have to input your nutrient profile and, according to University of Minnesota researchers, knowing that profile won't be cheap. It'll cost at least $50 to analyze the level of each nutrient, and it could cost more than $1,000 for a complete analysis.
We're in the dark when it comes to how Nestlé plans to analyze user's bodies since the project's still in its very early stages, but the company's just begun talking to a Massachusetts-based scientific equipment manufacturer. As you can imagine, developing a personal supplement maker won't be as easy as making a coffee maker, so it'll take Nestlé many years to conjure up a final product. Baetge believes that if he and his colleagues do it right, the machine could be "the next microwave in your kitchen."
