Gut microbiome and how does it affect us?
Did you know that trillions of microorganisms live in the human body and that they express 100 times more genes than our human cells? They can be found on your skin, nose, mouth, and gut. The majority of these microorganisms live within your gut and are known to play important roles in digestion and influencing your immune system. Microorganisms — bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other forms — living in the gut are collectively called the gut microbiome and altogether can weigh up to 2 kilograms in an average adult. Most of these microorganisms are harmless and may even have a positive effect on your health while contributing to your body’s functions such as digestion and inflammation.
There has been growing interest to understand the gut microbiome and how it can affect health and disease. Research over the years has shown that maintaining a proper balance in the gut microbiome is important in ensuring good health. An imbalance in your gut microbiome has been linked to many common digestive disorders including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). These associations make the gut microbiome a potential key target for the treatment or prevention of such diseases.
Across the world, more than 40 percent of adults suffer from long-term digestive disorders which have a negative impact on the overall quality of life. Locally in Singapore, 1 in 10 people currently suffer from IBS. Given the taboo nature of digestive disorders, many suffer in silence without seeking the appropriate medical attention.
Digestive disorders have been shown to significantly affect the quality of life and result in loss of productivity at work. All these cause a considerable burden on patients and employers as many as 50 percent of such cases don’t seek the required medical help, costing companies in countries such as the United States almost US$20 billion in productivity losses each year. Many of such digestive disorders are preventable with proper diet and lifestyle choices. However, there is a clear unmet need to help better understand the root cause and for people to have the means to resolve or identify such digestive issues even before it escalates into something more serious. This highlights the importance of understanding the composition and identifying gaps in your gut microbiome that could indicate the risk of digestive disorders.
Diet plays a major role in shaping your gut microbiome for better or for worse depending on what you eat. As the saying goes, “you are what you eat”. Dietary choices that are high in sugar, fat, or alcohol can cause an imbalance in your gut microbiome. By analyzing your gut microbiome, you can better understand what is lacking in your diet that can help to boost your gut health. A healthy gut is a happy gut.
So what then makes a “balanced” gut microbiome? Research in this area has expanded rapidly over recent years to answer this question. However, it remains uncertain and hard to determine due to the differences in gut microbiome composition between each person. This difference makes it difficult to define a template as to what a “balanced” gut microbiome for everyone should be. The personalized nature of the gut microbiome requires a personalized approach in testing and providing actionable results for everyone to benefit from analyzing our gut microbiome composition.
Enter OSbiome, a personalized digital health platform, the only provider on HeyAlly that provides you with access to lab-grade gut microbiome testing, enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) and catered to the Asian gut microbiome profile. Current knowledge of gut microbiome data is mostly based on western populations, leaving a huge gap in the understanding of the gut microbiome from Asian communities.
OSbiome looks to empower you with the understanding and ability to optimize your gut microbiome for improved health using proprietary algorithms and AI. The AI algorithms are built upon the proven results of hundreds of cutting-edge clinical studies carefully curated to provide the latest analysis of the gut microbiome.
Included in the OSbiome solution,
1. A simple and clean home-based gut microbiome test kit, where you can get your gut microbiome checked at the comforts of your own home. Reduce exposure to the clinics. All kits come with gloves and a long spatula with a sample tube for simple, clean, and convenient stool collection without touching your stool.
2. An unique breakdown of gut bacteria within you, unveiling any imbalances that might be the root cause to your issues.
3. 15 proprietary wellness scores, pointing you to specific gaps that you need to work on from sleep, digestive efficiency to weight control.
4. Precise ingredient and probiotic recommendations, to know YOUR exact nutrition needs based on your unique gut needs.
5. AI-ranked local-based recipes curated by certified nutritionists and direct links to products verified by OSbiome, helping you save time and money and making your journey as easy as possible.
Users of OSbiome, by learning how to improve their gut microbiome can :
• Reduce digestive issues such as bloating, indigestion and overly frequent visits to the wash room
• Improve sleep and mood levels.
• Lose weight and optimise body recovery
• Save 4X time & money by not wasting on supplements and ‘superfoods’ that does not fit your body.
We know how hard the journey is and hence emphasised on making the entire experience as easy as possible. With that in mind, this science-backed solution will be made available through a mobile application to easily access through your smartphone. The simple and intuitive interface was developed to ensure a user-friendly platform for you to access your gut microbiome analysis results and take the necessary steps to build a stronger gut.
What are you waiting for? Unlock the secrets to your gut microbiome with OSbiome today! OSbiome Gut Microbiome Test is available on AllyStore.5