Anu Jain
Anu Jain
Sep 9, 2018 · 5 min read

Viome: new cutting edge gut microbiome technologies to fight chronic illness

As a country and even globally, there is an epidemic of chronic illness that is devastating families and taking a massive toll on the healthcare systems. Currently, about 45% of the American population has at least one chronic disease and an estimated seven out of every 10 deaths each year are due to chronic diseases.

Unless we act, the rise in chronic disease will overwhelm our resources and strain more and more families across the world. Fortunately, developments in medical research have offered new avenues for dealing with this growing concern — and we believe the first line of defense begins with women, specifically moms.

Women Are Most Affected by the Rise in Chronic Disease

Women are disproportionately affected by chronic disease, though it is not fully understood why. One example of this is with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which is a devastating condition that is on the rise globally. AD recently climbed to the number three spot on leading causes of death in the United States, only behind heart disease and cancer. For an unknown reason, women are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease as men.

Autoimmune diseases are also on the rise. There are over 100 different types of autoimmune diseases and women are 78% more likely to be affected than men. Other chronic illnesses more likely to affect women over men include thyroid conditions, hypertension, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, insomnia, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome.

Introducing Viome and Your Gut Microbiome

Each of us have an ecosystem of microorganisms living throughout our gastrointestinal tracts that play a fundamental role in housing, training, and educating our immune systems. The collection of genes belonging to these microorganisms are called your gut microbiome. Your gut microbiome plays a role in practically every biological function in your body.

These discoveries have led scientists to challenge everyone to re-examine their relationship with bacteria and other microorganisms indicating that the gut microbiome is vital to human health.

The sudden push to take probiotics, eat fermented foods, and use other gut healing techniques is the mainstream media’s response to the critical science that is uncovering just how important those 40 trillion bacteria, viruses, fungi, and bacteriophages are to your health.

To Cure Chronic Disease, We Must Look to the Gut Microbiome

The fast-growing research on the gut microbiome continues to find that an imbalance of this ecosystem is at the heart of many chronic illnesses. This is because these microorganisms:

  • Directly communicate with the brain
  • Digest food we are incapable of digesting on our own
  • Supply us with essential nutrients
  • Synthesize and produce neurotransmitters
  • Regulate energy production and storage
  • Create and balance hormones

Strengthening Your Child’s Gut Microbiome Begins with Moms

Your child’s gut microbiome is quite possibly their most important organ. Studies have found that the gut microbiome affects everything from your child’s weight to their risk for disease, and even their behavior and mood.

Perhaps the single most important way moms can impact the chronic illness epidemic, is through spreading the word about the importance of building a baby’s gut microbiome beginning at birth. This means promoting vaginal birth and breast-feeding whenever possible.

You see, when a baby is born it’s covered in its mother’s microbes through the birth canal. This is when the gut microbiome is first seeded and begins to develop. After that, there are sugars in breastmilk that are only digestible to the microorganisms in the gut. For decades, scientists didn’t understand why these indigestible sugars were in breastmilk, but now we know it’s to build a strong gut microbiome.

If you weren’t able to give birth vaginally or breastfeed — there’s no need to over worry. There is a lot that can be done to support your child’s gut microbiome throughout their life. When it comes to a healthy gut microbiome, promoting diversity is most important. You can support a diverse gut microbiome by:

  1. Reducing exposure to gut microbiome harming products such as NSAIDs like Advil, and antibiotics.
  2. Eating organic foods wherever possible because there are fewer gut microbiome damaging pesticides.
  3. Avoiding artificial sweeteners, which are known to change the composition and functions of the gut microbiome.
  4. Taking a Viome functional microbiome test to find the ideal diet just for you to balance your gut microbiome.
  5. Having a pet, which has been shown to reduce allergies and obesity and scientists think may be due to an increase in gut microbiome diversity.

Viome’s Mission is to Make Chronic Illness Optional

Viome is a mission driven company with a vision to create a world where chronic illness can truly be a matter of choice and not bad luck. We are under no illusion that it’s a massive undertaking but we have no doubt that together we will be able make a dent in the human suffering from chronic diseases by applying exponential technologies to predict, prevent and reverse chronic diseases. We plan to empower every individual with information and actionable recommendations to become CEO of their own health. Our generation has potential to finally bend the curve of healthcare spending by using prevention and reversal of chronic diseases and not just manage chronic diseases. It will be a shame to waste this opportunity and watch our children and grandchildren continue to suffer because we weren’t bold enough to take actions.

Here are some of the most recent stories from our customers. These stories allow us to give our best and keep working hard because we are improving the lives of people and the impact we are having on humanity.

Michelle Wie — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sMeTrvagZI

Tammy Lakes on digestive issues — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjO6vjDjWPw

Mikaela on Acne — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FL5z7Gcu6o

Shayna on weight loss — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YCRkRq2G5k

What to Expect With Viome

When you get your Viome test, it’s a quick 3-minute at home sample you send off to the Viome lab. After a few weeks, you’ll get your results delivered right to your Viome app. Your Viome recommendations break down the foods you should eat into your personalized food categories:

  • Foods that you must avoid
  • Foods that are your superfoods
  • Foods that you can enjoy when you want on a moderate basis

Eating diversity of the food is key! These foods are designed to make your personal gut microbiome more diverse — which is the cornerstone of good gut health.

Viome works to bring you balance — for the gut and body.

What will your Viome results uncover about your gut microbiome? Find out!

Anu Jain

Written by

Anu Jain

Anu Jain is an entrepreneur and philanthropist focused on the advancement of girls and women and overall health and wellness focused on the gut microbiome.