• Health leaders highlight AI’s growing role in predicting and preventing diabetes-related complications using genomic and lifestyle data.
  • Tools like January AI’s app allow users to foresee blood sugar responses and personalize care, offering hope against a looming global diabetes crisis.

At the Fortune Most Powerful Women International conference in Riyadh, health industry leaders emphasized how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping both prevention and treatment strategies, especially in regions like the Middle East, where lifestyle-driven diabetes rates are climbing.

Noosheen Hashemi, founder and CEO of January AI, shared how her company is using AI to help people better manage their metabolic health. With a single photo, users can assess the nutritional breakdown of a meal and predict its glycemic impact. 

January AI’s prediction engine, built on data from over 1,000 individuals, combines genomic, lifestyle, and health data to deliver personalized recommendations.

“The good news is that we have all the tools we need today to help make the world metabolically healthy,” Hashemi said.

Olfat Berro, Roche Pharmaceuticals’ Middle East area head, stressed that the future of diabetes care lies in prediction. By leveraging genomic data and AI, it will become possible to diagnose and prevent associated conditions earlier. 

“We see the repercussions of this epidemic on other health factors, like, for example, on eyesight,” Berro noted.

And Berro emphasized that one important aspect is how we can use technology to really understand the changes, so you can predict what the diseases could be and intervene early on.

Leah Cotterill, CEO of Cigna Healthcare for the Middle East and Africa (outside Saudi Arabia), underlined the urgency for public health systems to adopt these tools before projections become reality.

“One would hope that, with education and with fabulous AI tools and pharmaceuticals as well, you would be able to sort of dip that curve, rather than seeing that rise to such an extent,” she said.

As AI continues to mature, the leaders believe it offers a rare opportunity to intercept the diabetes epidemic before it reaches global proportions.

Edited by Harshajit Sarmah