Viome’s mission has always been to make chronic illness optional – a goal we firmly believe is not only achievable, but within grasp when enough people care to solve the problem. Artificial intelligence requires a massive amount of data in order to identify patterns, especially when you factor in the many different activities that may cause the same disease in different individuals. We’re racing to 2 million gut microbiomes in an effort to unmask the mystery that clouds many chronic diseases including how individualized the activity of one’s gut microbiome truly is. Each month of our Race to 2 Million campaign we focus on a chronic disease and what we’re learning about it in relation to the gut microbiome. For the month of August, we’re zeroing in on depression.

Reducing inflammation levels in the body is arguably one of the best things you can do for your overall wellness. Food sensitivities can raise inflammation levels. If you continue to eat the foods your body has a sensitivity to, you could be contributing to inflammatory processes throughout the body. Because symptoms range from subtle to severe, food sensitivities are often overlooked and misdiagnosed. Not to mention, it can be frustrating, inconvenient, and time-consuming to go on an elimination diet on its own. Elimination diets are a powerful tool you can use to pinpoint your ideal diet, and food sensitivity testing can help you have a more precise approach.

Although many factors do drive how we metabolize drugs, scientists are diving deeper into how our gut microbiome may be contributing to our responses. With new research continuously unmasking the complex relationship between our food and our gut microbiome, scientists are beginning to theorize there may be more going on with our drug metabolism, too. The microorganisms that thrive in our GI system may be impacting how drugs are broken down, triggering changes in how these drugs react in our body. This field of research, called “pharmacomicrobiomics,” seeks to understand how individuals respond differently to drugs and determine potential efficacy and side-effect changes based on interactions with our gut microbiota.