TY - JOUR
T1 - Advancing Whole-Person Health through Informatics
T2 - A Narrative Review of Knowledge Resources for Complementary and Integrative Health
AU - Austin, Robin R.
AU - Fiszman, Marcelo
AU - Guerra, Evan
AU - Zhang, Rui
AU - Kilicoglu, Halil
N1 - This work was supported by funding from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) and the Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS) (grant number: U01AT012871). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NCCIH, ODSS, and the NIH. This article is part of a special issue entitled: AI, ML, and Precision Nutrition published in The Journal of Nutrition.We thank Zeynep Madak-Erdogan and Michael Miller for their valuable feedback on the earlier drafts of this manuscript.
This work was supported by funding from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) and the Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS) (grant number: U01AT012871). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NCCIH, ODSS, and the NIH.
PY - 2026/5
Y1 - 2026/5
N2 - AbstractBackgroundComplementary and integrative health (CIH) interventions, including nutritional strategies, are widely used to support whole-person health, yet evidence on their efficacy, safety, and mechanisms remains fragmented.ObjectivesThis narrative review mapped existing CIH knowledge resources, identifies critical gaps, and highlighted challenges in interoperability and integration. We proposed artificial intelligence-driven informatics strategies to standardize, connect, and leverage these resources, with the goal of advancing discovery, precision nutrition, and personalized approaches to health and well-being.MethodsWe conducted a narrative review of publicly available knowledge resources on complementary health interventions, focusing on their effectiveness, safety, and biological mechanisms, including the microbiome. Interventions were categorized as nutritional, physical, or psychological. Resources were then classified as knowledge bases, datasets, databases, ontologies, knowledge graphs, platforms, or initiatives, with summaries of their scope, functionality, and contributions.ResultsWe identified 47 resources that can support complementary and integrative health informatics (15 knowledge bases, 13 databases, 7 datasets, 4 platforms, 3 initiatives, 3 ontologies, and 2 knowledge graphs). Categories included nutritional interventions (32, with 13 on the microbiome), physical interventions (4), psychological interventions (3), and comprehensive or multimodal resources (7). Most resources (39) were publicly available.ConclusionsAdvancing whole-person health requires greater standardization and integration of knowledge resources, which in turn enables more effective application of artificial intelligence and informatics methods. When well-structured, interoperable resources are coupled with these computational methods, they can unify diverse knowledge domains, advance the science of complementary and integrative health, and accelerate discovery in personalized nutrition.
AB - AbstractBackgroundComplementary and integrative health (CIH) interventions, including nutritional strategies, are widely used to support whole-person health, yet evidence on their efficacy, safety, and mechanisms remains fragmented.ObjectivesThis narrative review mapped existing CIH knowledge resources, identifies critical gaps, and highlighted challenges in interoperability and integration. We proposed artificial intelligence-driven informatics strategies to standardize, connect, and leverage these resources, with the goal of advancing discovery, precision nutrition, and personalized approaches to health and well-being.MethodsWe conducted a narrative review of publicly available knowledge resources on complementary health interventions, focusing on their effectiveness, safety, and biological mechanisms, including the microbiome. Interventions were categorized as nutritional, physical, or psychological. Resources were then classified as knowledge bases, datasets, databases, ontologies, knowledge graphs, platforms, or initiatives, with summaries of their scope, functionality, and contributions.ResultsWe identified 47 resources that can support complementary and integrative health informatics (15 knowledge bases, 13 databases, 7 datasets, 4 platforms, 3 initiatives, 3 ontologies, and 2 knowledge graphs). Categories included nutritional interventions (32, with 13 on the microbiome), physical interventions (4), psychological interventions (3), and comprehensive or multimodal resources (7). Most resources (39) were publicly available.ConclusionsAdvancing whole-person health requires greater standardization and integration of knowledge resources, which in turn enables more effective application of artificial intelligence and informatics methods. When well-structured, interoperable resources are coupled with these computational methods, they can unify diverse knowledge domains, advance the science of complementary and integrative health, and accelerate discovery in personalized nutrition.
KW - complementary and integrative health
KW - complementary therapies
KW - informatics
KW - knowledge resources
KW - whole-person health
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105034725755
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105034725755#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1016/j.tjnut.2026.101461
DO - 10.1016/j.tjnut.2026.101461
M3 - Article
C2 - 41780827
AN - SCOPUS:105034725755
SN - 0022-3166
VL - 156
JO - Journal of Nutrition
JF - Journal of Nutrition
IS - 5
M1 - 101461
ER -