Metatranscriptomic Analysis — The Next Frontier in Microbiome Technology is Available Today

May 21, 2018

Did The Viome Update Change Your Report? Welcome to The Gut Microbiome Revolution!

May 21, 2018

Metatranscriptomic Analysis — The Next Frontier in Microbiome Technology is Available Today

May 21, 2018

Did The Viome Update Change Your Report? Welcome to The Gut Microbiome Revolution!

May 21, 2018

Metatranscriptomic Analysis — The Next Frontier in Microbiome Technology is Available Today

May 21, 2018

Why Viome’s Technology is Superior – Understanding Metatranscriptomic Analysis

Viome’s technology is superior because it captures everything that is happening in the gut microbiome – the key word here is happening. Not only can we identify the teeny tiny viruses, single cell eukaryotes, and elusive prokaryotes that lack a cell nucleus, we can determine the enzymes and other proteins these microbes are producing. This shows us what biochemical pathways are active in all of your gut microbes. Viome follows these pathways, just like trails in a forest, to see where they end up, what stops they make along the way, and whether they end at an amazing view or a dangerous cliff. The pathways are the functions of your microbes – or what they are actually doing in your body. Our technology is capable of seeing such precise detail that we not only see the outcomes of functions, but the process as well. The ability to see every step of a pathway is part of what makes Viome’s technology so powerful.

May 27, 2018

Feel Like Hercules – Hack Your Gut for Optimal Performance

Your gut microbiome is a unique collection of microorganisms that reside in your gastrointestinal tract. These microbes hold powerful sway over your hormones, metabolism, and energy production. This trifecta of influence means your gut microbiome influences the most important elements of your daily performance. From your energy levels, to your motivation, to your mood.

Jun 08, 2018

Reversing Arthritis with a Personalized Diet

My rheumatoid arthritis story is one of 20 years of declining joint health, which was only reversed after years of digging through large amounts of scientific information and finally finding a needle in a haystack. My personal health transformation happened before the foundation of Viome and strengthened my decision to leave academic work and start the company, so we can help millions of other people.

Jun 05, 2018

Fight Dad Bod with Your Mighty Microbes

The dreaded “dad bod” can creep up on us as we age. It seems each year it becomes more difficult to keep stubborn fat away. Looking for solutions, you’ll waste a lot of time reading all of the overwhelming and conflicting dietary advice.

Jun 10, 2018

Why Viome’s Technology is Superior – Understanding Metatranscriptomic Analysis

Viome’s technology is superior because it captures everything that is happening in the gut microbiome – the key word here is happening. Not only can we identify the teeny tiny viruses, single cell eukaryotes, and elusive prokaryotes that lack a cell nucleus, we can determine the enzymes and other proteins these microbes are producing. This shows us what biochemical pathways are active in all of your gut microbes. Viome follows these pathways, just like trails in a forest, to see where they end up, what stops they make along the way, and whether they end at an amazing view or a dangerous cliff. The pathways are the functions of your microbes – or what they are actually doing in your body. Our technology is capable of seeing such precise detail that we not only see the outcomes of functions, but the process as well. The ability to see every step of a pathway is part of what makes Viome’s technology so powerful.

May 27, 2018

Anxiety? Depression? Is Your Gut Microbiome to Blame?

If you’ve ever struggled with anxiety or depression, you know firsthand the toll it can take on your wellbeing and productivity – even getting through the day can be tough. Being anxious and depressed is much more than an inconvenience – it takes a toll on your health, causing you to get sick, lowering your immunity, and can even prevent you from recovering.

Jun 12, 2018

Feel Like Hercules – Hack Your Gut for Optimal Performance

Your gut microbiome is a unique collection of microorganisms that reside in your gastrointestinal tract. These microbes hold powerful sway over your hormones, metabolism, and energy production. This trifecta of influence means your gut microbiome influences the most important elements of your daily performance. From your energy levels, to your motivation, to your mood.

Jun 08, 2018

Reversing Arthritis with a Personalized Diet

My rheumatoid arthritis story is one of 20 years of declining joint health, which was only reversed after years of digging through large amounts of scientific information and finally finding a needle in a haystack. My personal health transformation happened before the foundation of Viome and strengthened my decision to leave academic work and start the company, so we can help millions of other people.

Jun 05, 2018

Fight Dad Bod with Your Mighty Microbes

The dreaded “dad bod” can creep up on us as we age. It seems each year it becomes more difficult to keep stubborn fat away. Looking for solutions, you’ll waste a lot of time reading all of the overwhelming and conflicting dietary advice.

Jun 10, 2018

Anxiety? Depression? Is Your Gut Microbiome to Blame?

If you’ve ever struggled with anxiety or depression, you know firsthand the toll it can take on your wellbeing and productivity – even getting through the day can be tough. Being anxious and depressed is much more than an inconvenience – it takes a toll on your health, causing you to get sick, lowering your immunity, and can even prevent you from recovering.

Jun 12, 2018

Why Is Celiac Disease on the Rise? The Answer Is in The Gut Microbiome

Gluten-free food is everywhere these days. Some scoff at “going gluten-free,” believing it’s a trendy diet choice, when it may actually be a necessary diet modification for some people. Gluten can wreak havoc on the body in those with a gluten sensitivity or intolerance, and it’s downright dangerous for those with celiac disease.

May 22, 2018

You’re Just Like Dad – But Not How You’d Expect…

Sure, you have 50% of Dad’s genes but that’s not the whole picture. Your DNA contributes to your appearance and some health traits but it isn’t nearly as important as we once thought. The fact that we are all 99.9% similar when it comes to our DNA is proof that our DNA doesn’t tell our whole story.

Jun 15, 2018

Why Is Celiac Disease on the Rise? The Answer Is in The Gut Microbiome

Gluten-free food is everywhere these days. Some scoff at “going gluten-free,” believing it’s a trendy diet choice, when it may actually be a necessary diet modification for some people. Gluten can wreak havoc on the body in those with a gluten sensitivity or intolerance, and it’s downright dangerous for those with celiac disease.

May 22, 2018

Meet Vie - Viome’s Artificial Intelligence System

Vie is embedded in your Viome app – it is the hand-held version of our artificial intelligence system. After you take your Viome test, you get your very own personal AI assistant with Vie. Your recommendations are more than a list of foods you should eat, they are the culmination of trillions of data points that have been analyzed, cross checked, and reanalyzed again until Vie passes high standards of validity.

Jun 22, 2018

You’re Just Like Dad – But Not How You’d Expect…

Sure, you have 50% of Dad’s genes but that’s not the whole picture. Your DNA contributes to your appearance and some health traits but it isn’t nearly as important as we once thought. The fact that we are all 99.9% similar when it comes to our DNA is proof that our DNA doesn’t tell our whole story.

Jun 15, 2018

Paleo? Keto? Vegan? What is the Perfect Diet for YOU?

With all the diets in the media today, and a new one popping up what seems to be weekly, it can be overwhelming trying to decide which diet is the best, and more importantly, which one is best for you. You might be eager to make a change and improve your health, but how do you know where to begin?

Jun 29, 2018

No Guts, No Glory – 9 Ways The Gut Microbiome Impacts Athletic Performance

What if one day athletes could inoculate themselves with microscopic organisms that made them run faster, jump higher, and recover like wolverine? Sounds like a Marvel movie doesn't it? But what if we were to tell you that every athlete is already covered in microbes living in and on them that can give them an edge over their competition?

Jul 05, 2018

Announcing Viome’s July 2018 Update – Precision Upgraded

Viome customers are some of the most passionate and forward-thinking people on the planet. One of the things we appreciate most about our customers is how you continue to provide us with feedback on how you’re experiencing Viome so we can continue to refine our process. Thousands of people pitched in and those insights fueled the our latest update. Your feedback inspired 12 new features and upgrades, which will roll out in July 2018.

Jun 28, 2018

A Suspicious Gut Microbiome: 19 Conditions Linked to Dysbiosis

Your gut can either be a fountain of youth...or the biggest drag on your health. When the ecosystem of 40 trillion microorganisms living in your gut are thrown into chaos, they can wreak havoc on your health. Microbial imbalance or dysbiosis is linked to all sorts of conditions. We aren’t the first to see that the gut is the epicenter of overall health – Hippocrates the ‘Father of Medicine’ famously stated over 2,000 years ago that, “All disease begins in the gut.” This statement is proving to be more true than anyone fully realized.

Jul 09, 2018

How An Unhealthy Gut Microbiome Can Make You Fat

Science continues to prove that the old adage “you are what you eat” is profoundly true. This is because you have trillions of microorganisms living in your gut, which are directly responsible for nearly every aspect of your health. These microbes make up what’s called your, “gut microbiota.” They are especially influential in determining your likelihood of gaining excessive weight, becoming obese, and developing obesity-related diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and premature death.

Jul 13, 2018

Let's Get Dirty! Why Being Too Clean Isn't Always Better

As a parent, you want your child to be happy and healthy. You go to great lengths making sure they have a safe environment, attend the right school, and have the best opportunities available to them. You try to feed your child right and make sure they get enough exercise. But there’s another factor equally as important as good diet and exercise, if not more important. We want to know, are you making sure your child is getting enough bacteria?

Aug 09, 2018

Improve Insulin Sensitivity With This Single Step

The struggle to lose weight and ward off disease has a lot to do with your insulin sensitivity. Insulin sensitivity can be defined as as, “how responsive your cells are to insulin". Improving it can help you reduce insulin resistance and the risk of many diseases, including diabetes. Improving insulin sensitivity is a goal to put at the top of your health goals. Why? It’s well documented that controlling your blood sugar levels is crucial to your overall health.

Aug 15, 2018

Why Scientists Are Searching the Gut for Cures to All Chronic Diseases

Since the beginning of time, we’ve had a complicated relationship with bacteria. While it’s absolutely everywhere – in and on us – living mostly in harmony, bacteria gains our attention most often when it causes devastating outbreaks. From food recalls caused by various Salmonella strains to the bubonic plague caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria – history is full of catastrophic stories where bacteria wreaked havoc and caused widespread fear.4 Even today, antibiotic resistant strains like MRSA and CRE (ominously called “nightmare bacteria”), continue to perplex doctors and researchers alike.5 These scary stories have contributed to the widespread belief that “all bacteria is bad.” This dogma has fueled our war against these microorganisms since penicillin was first discovered in 1929. But mounting research suggests that more often than not, bacteria lives not only in harmony with the body, but significantly contributes to our health.

Aug 29, 2018

Gas? Bloating? What to Do for TRUE Digestive Relief When Your Gut Acts Up

Before you reach for that antacid to stop your heartburn, or Gas-X to alleviate your gas and bloating, pause for a second… because you could actually be making matters worse. How could something that stops your discomfort so quickly end up making matters worse? Well, many common remedies for these types of digestive issues don’t address the root cause of the problem, they just temporarily relieve the symptoms. One example is when we take medications like antacids, they reduce the concentration of hydrochloric acid in our stomachs, which can change the entire environment of the gut.

Aug 30, 2018

Who’s Really In Control? How Your Gut Microbiome Impacts Your Mental Health

Our incredible minds are what differentiate us from other creatures. We have the unique ability to reason, think abstract thoughts, and experience deep emotions. Yet, emerging research is finding that our gut microbes are the invisible hand influencing our mental well-being. That’s right – there is a two way street of communication along what’s called the gut-brain axis occurring at all times between the enteric system in your gut and the central nervous system – and your microbes play a dominant role. Increasing evidence has found the gut microbiome plays a more dominant role in this conversation than we originally thought.

Sep 11, 2018

August’s Viome Update – Knows More, Does More - Now Available!

Your evolution is the reason for our revolution. You take your health seriously. Pouring time, energy, and not to mention, a lot money into organic foods, supplements, probiotics, and products to get results. With your Viome service, we aim to bring you deep insights so you can make better decisions – based on science. We give you the data and the power to make the best choices about for what’s right for you. With each update, we go deeper. As we build our databases and continue to educate Vie, your wellness AI companion, you’ll learn more about what makes those vital microbes tick. Giving you the power to make informed decisions on what foods you should actually invest in and what supplements are worth the money.

Aug 23, 2018

What's in a Name? Why Are Microbes’ Names Always Changing?

Scientific names are a way for scientists to communicate with each other the most up-to-date information about exactly how a particular organism looks and behaves. Classification systems allow researchers around the world to communicate more effectively and with greater accuracy. But scientific nomenclature is constantly evolving as we learn and discover more.

Aug 27, 2018

Meet Vie - Viome’s Artificial Intelligence System

Vie is embedded in your Viome app – it is the hand-held version of our artificial intelligence system. After you take your Viome test, you get your very own personal AI assistant with Vie. Your recommendations are more than a list of foods you should eat, they are the culmination of trillions of data points that have been analyzed, cross checked, and reanalyzed again until Vie passes high standards of validity.

Jun 22, 2018

19 Science-Backed Ways to Improve Your Gut Health

You’ve probably noticed the monsoon of gut health advice flooding the internet. This surge was triggered by the discovery of the gut microbiota – or the 40 trillion microorganisms living in your gut. Researchers continue to uncover how this ecosystem plays a role in nearly every biological function in the body, which makes anyone concerned with their health ask the obvious question: How do you improve gut health naturally?

Oct 04, 2018

The Mind-Gut Connection – How Your Gut Microbiome Controls Your Behavior

The microbes that live in your gut actually influence your feelings and behaviors. Your gut is home to trillions of bacteria and other microbes that directly communicate with your brain along the gut-brain axis, also known as the vagus nerve. We initially thought the brain was doing most of the talking in this relationship, but new gut microbiome research indicates that your microbes are quite chatty.

Nov 30, 2018

What the December 2018 Viome Update Means for You

The newest Viome update is a reflection of our CLIA certification. CLIA stands for Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 regulations and are federal standards for US laboratories that test human specimens for health assessment or to diagnose, prevent, or treat disease. The CLIA certification is supported by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Dec 02, 2018

A Guide to Your Viome Results

You've received your Viome test results… Now what? Going through your app or website screens you might find yourself wondering – How did we get all those scores and why do they matter? Many keywords are defined in the app, and the results offer a brief explanation each, but here we are going to talk about how these different pieces are tied together. We are excited to share with you the scientific vision behind your Viome scores.

Dec 10, 2018

A Guide to Your Viome Recommendations

Here you’ll gain insight about the process and what goes into your personalized Viome recommendations. We cover the approach we take and some of the scientific principles we use when determining your food recommendations.

Dec 10, 2018

Heal Your Heart Through Your Gut: Understanding the Gut-Heart Connection

The old saying may be true, maybe the way to a man’s heart really is through his stomach. Studies show that gut health and heart health are intricately linked and the key to a strong heart might lay within your gut.

Dec 17, 2018

Did Your Gut Bacteria Give You Food Poisoning?

If you’ve ever had a severe bout of food poisoning, you know it is absolutely miserable. Few things feel worse than gripping that porcelain god, begging for it to be over. While about 1.2 million people make it through Salmonella food poisoning on their own, 23,000 individuals end up in the hospital and 450 lives are claimed each year.1 Salmonella usually makes the news when there is widespread infection from a contaminated food source. But this fairly common cause of food poisoning usually affects people without them realizing Salmonella is to blame. Most people are only sick for a few days and recover without treatment.

Dec 18, 2018

Announcing Viome’s July 2018 Update – Precision Upgraded

Viome customers are some of the most passionate and forward-thinking people on the planet. One of the things we appreciate most about our customers is how you continue to provide us with feedback on how you’re experiencing Viome so we can continue to refine our process. Thousands of people pitched in and those insights fueled the our latest update. Your feedback inspired 12 new features and upgrades, which will roll out in July 2018.

Jun 28, 2018

Your Baby’s Miraculous Microbiome – Set Them Up for Life

So, you might not have considered that your baby isn't the only new member of your family. With your baby comes the beginnings of an ecosystem of microscopic organisms. Colonies of bacteria cover your baby at birth and continue to grow and diversify through breastfeeding, with every kiss, snuggle, and new encounter. These microbes are establishing new homes on your baby’s tiny body and while this might make you a nervous to hear – it’s actually good news!

Feb 01, 2019

Paleo? Keto? Vegan? What is the Perfect Diet for YOU?

With all the diets in the media today, and a new one popping up what seems to be weekly, it can be overwhelming trying to decide which diet is the best, and more importantly, which one is best for you. You might be eager to make a change and improve your health, but how do you know where to begin?

Jun 29, 2018

Pucker Up: Each Kiss Swaps 80 Million Microbes

When you lean in for a passionate kiss with your partner, you’re not just getting a surge of the love hormone oxytocin, you’re also exchanging about 80 million microbes. We’re not talking any ole kiss here – we mean at least a 10 second French kiss.

Feb 12, 2019

Ready for a Retest? 5 Signs You're Ready to Level Up

You did it! You put your Viome recommendations into action. Were you surprised by how following the recommendations made you feel? The good news is there is still room for improvement. Your gut microbiome is constantly changing and when you retest you build on the progress you’ve started.

Dec 10, 2018

Intestinal bacteria from healthy infants prevent food allergy

If you haven't heard of it already, food allergies are on the rise. They affect as much as 10% of the population, in some parts of the world. There has also been a sharp increase in their prevalence over the last few decades.

Feb 25, 2019

How to stick to a diet according to Science

When beginning a new diet, what you are essentially dealing with is a change in habit. And as the 19th century, Scottish writer Samuel Smiles mentions. “ To uproot an old habit is sometimes a more painful thing and vastly more difficult than to wrench out a tooth.”

Mar 14, 2019

Your Gut Reveals Your Age

Got a gut feeling? Well, you might just be right! Did you know that humans have been around for 200,000 years? 98% of our existence has passed with an average life span between 19 – 25 years. Now isn’t that shocking! Yet, the exponential growth in science and medicine over the last two centuries has increased our life expectancy vastly. Researchers in the past decade or so, have been looking into factors that determine aging, longevity, and ability to adapt to environmental influences. One such factor that is associated with aging, is the microbial composition of our gut. Now, this might sound strange. But scientists will now be able to age you if you were to handover your stool sample to them!

Mar 14, 2019

No Guts, No Glory – 9 Ways The Gut Microbiome Impacts Athletic Performance

What if one day athletes could inoculate themselves with microscopic organisms that made them run faster, jump higher, and recover like wolverine? Sounds like a Marvel movie doesn't it? But what if we were to tell you that every athlete is already covered in microbes living in and on them that can give them an edge over their competition?

Jul 05, 2018

A Suspicious Gut Microbiome: 19 Conditions Linked to Dysbiosis

Your gut can either be a fountain of youth...or the biggest drag on your health. When the ecosystem of 40 trillion microorganisms living in your gut are thrown into chaos, they can wreak havoc on your health. Microbial imbalance or dysbiosis is linked to all sorts of conditions. We aren’t the first to see that the gut is the epicenter of overall health – Hippocrates the ‘Father of Medicine’ famously stated over 2,000 years ago that, “All disease begins in the gut.” This statement is proving to be more true than anyone fully realized.

Jul 09, 2018

How An Unhealthy Gut Microbiome Can Make You Fat

Science continues to prove that the old adage “you are what you eat” is profoundly true. This is because you have trillions of microorganisms living in your gut, which are directly responsible for nearly every aspect of your health. These microbes make up what’s called your, “gut microbiota.” They are especially influential in determining your likelihood of gaining excessive weight, becoming obese, and developing obesity-related diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and premature death.

Jul 13, 2018

How The Microbiome Affects Athletic Performance

Every human has trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi living inside and on them in multiple microbial ecosystems known as microbiomes. When it comes to athletes specifically, their gut bacteria plays an even more significant role in how well they perform and how quickly they recover. Gut microbes are responsible for the way in which our bodies break down carbohydrates, fiber, protein, and for regulating the body’s energy. These microbes influence the body’s inflammatory response, stress resilience, neurological function, and even impacting mental strength—all of which are important to athletic performance.

May 05, 2019

Is The Gut Microbiome The Key To Curing Chronic Diseases?

Our gut microbiome is our most important human organ. This complex ecosystem of bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea, and bacteriophages has been called the conductor of the immune–neuroendocrine system, home of the immune system, and even the second brain. In fact, the gut microbiome’s role in human biology is so widespread that scientists from nearly every specialty are checking for potential solutions within the gut. With chronic diseases on the rise across the world, the gut microbiome is now front and center in this epidemic.

May 20, 2019

Have You Met Vie, Viome’s Artificial Intelligence System?

Viome is on a mission to eradicate chronic illness. To achieve this aspirational goal, we are attempting to develop the most profound understanding of human biology in existence. At Viome we use artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze the biological data and learn more about the gut microbes. Our AI system, which we’ve named ‘Vie’, uses data from four sources:

May 22, 2019

Let's Get Dirty! Why Being Too Clean Isn't Always Better

As a parent, you want your child to be happy and healthy. You go to great lengths making sure they have a safe environment, attend the right school, and have the best opportunities available to them. You try to feed your child right and make sure they get enough exercise. But there’s another factor equally as important as good diet and exercise, if not more important. We want to know, are you making sure your child is getting enough bacteria?

Aug 09, 2018

Your Microbiome Can Impact Your Glycemic Response

In Viome’s latest breakthrough clinical research study, we found that the glycemic response to foods varies greatly based on each person’s unique gut microbiome. In this scientific paper published by our researchers, we describe the clinical study in which we compare how different foods affect blood glucose on an individual level.

Jul 01, 2019

The Microbiome Obesity Connection

Over the last few decades, researchers have been on a quest to find the root causes of obesity. With research on the gut microbiome rolling in on a regular basis, scientists have recently uncovered evidence that your gut microbes may also be partly to blame.

Jul 12, 2019