Last December, my wife gave me a lunar phase calendar. I'm looking at it now. It holds an attractive graphic quality as it depicts the moon cycling from new to full every day of 2021. Tonight, a waxing quarter moon will hang above us.

I feel foolish admitting this, but I never consciously noted that each year, we experience 12 full moons. Before this lunar phase reference hung near my desk, I rarely took note of the moon. I might randomly look up and think, oh, there it is. Huh. The moon. Or a phone alert might call out: Super Blood Wolf Moon, Tonight!
I mean, who is not going to raise their gaze to the night sky for that?

These days, I tend to annoy friends and family with my moon phase knowledge. I sent a card to my Uncle Jim, and let him know that yes indeed, his birthday, May 26, was a full moon this year. I added that, in fact, all of the full moons of 2021 will fall in the final third of each month, save for November and December, which come to us on the 19th. I imagine after reading the card he casually leaned toward his wife and mentioned that his nephew might be losing touch with reality.

People used to measure time by moons, right? Many moons ago. Oh, my gosh, it's dawning on me now that a month is the time it takes the moon to travel around the Earth once. I'm sorry, are we all aware of this? Am I having a public epiphany that does nothing but reveal my moronic nature? Feel free to comment on our website.

While you're there, you may want to visit our piece about LifeNome, the winner of PepsiCo's Fifth Annual Greenhouse Accelerator Program. LifeNome is a precision health AI company that leverages data to provide personalized, science-based health and wellness insights and analytics. LifeNome was chosen as this year’s winner by a committee of leaders within PepsiCo based on its mission to create personalized solutions for consumers, overall engagement in the program, and the launch of 9Moons.

9Moons! What's 9Moons? It's a product that addresses nutrition during pregnancy. The human gestation period is typically about nine months, otherwise known as, pause for emphasis, nine moons.

I'm telling you, I am having revelation after revelation.

With the pandemic renewing consumer interest in taking control of personal health and wellness, PepsiCo focused this year’s program on finding emerging, disruptive tech-driven solutions that address consumer needs, such as creative innovations in personalized nutrition, functional foods and supplements, according to a press release.

LifeNome's 9Moons focuses on a specific part of a larger personalized nutrition trend. Personalization emphasizes a person's behavior, biological history, preferences, and objectives in achieving individualized nutrition. According to Quince Market Insights, the personalized nutrition market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.0% from 2021 to 2030. Continued consumer health awareness, and digital healthcare trends are expected to drive the personalized nutrition market in the coming years.

Personalized nutrition startups abound in the market, one of which is ZOE Limited. The company uses big data and machine learning to develop predictive insights on how people will respond to different foods so that it can offer guided advice on what and how to eat. The goal is to improve gut health and reduce inflammatory responses caused by diet.

And yet, I still wonder, will big data and machine learning take into account moon phases when developing personalized nutrition plans? How else will I know if it’s okay to eat Swiss chard under the light of a waning gibbous? PF