[HN Gopher] Launch HN: Be Golden (YC S22) - Measure and manage y...
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Launch HN: Be Golden (YC S22) - Measure and manage your
inflammation levels
Hi HN! This is Sneh and Kimberly from Be Golden
(https://www.begolden.online/). Be Golden helps you understand how
your lifestyle impacts your health, particularly in terms of
inflammation levels. I (Sneh) am a PharmD and the CEO; Kimberly has
a PhD in biology and is the CTO. We all make lifestyle choices
daily - what we eat, how much we exercise, etc. No matter how good
we are, we are all probably trying to get better but we don't have
a great feedback mechanism on how our choices impact our health. We
may go to the doctor once a year (if that) to get some blood work
done but so much happens in between that it's hard to tell what
made an impact. We wanted to change that so that you are better
understanding how your lifestyle is impacting your health to help
you make better decisions. Be Golden focuses on helping you
measure and manage inflammation levels because inflammation is
impacted by all key lifestyle behaviors (nutrition, exercise,
sleep, stress) [1] and impacts a variety of health outcomes--from
energy levels, to IVF success rates and IBS symptoms to chronic
diseases like heart disease and cancer [2]. This Nature Medicine
article (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0675-0) states
"One of the most important medical discoveries of the past two
decades has been that the immune system and inflammatory processes
are involved in not just a few select disorders, but a wide variety
of mental and physical health problems that dominate present-day
morbidity and mortality worldwide." I started tracking my
inflammation scores (see my graph here! -
https://www.begolden.online/post/our-ceo-s-hscrp-scores-over...)
after I learned I was at high risk of breast cancer and had a
bilateral lumpectomy. I learned that chronic inflammation can be a
driver of tumor development [9], progression [10], and treatment
responsiveness [11]... and can impact a surprising number of other
things. It keeps us from functioning optimally. The good news is
that it can be managed with healthy lifestyle choices (see [1]). I
started making healthy changes (like exercising almost daily) and
seeing an impact on my inflammation levels (although it seems like
the "startup lifestyle" has me back on an upswing lately). I
decided to start a startup to help manage inflammation because I
wanted more tools, data and analytics to help me make healthy
lifestyle choices. I recognize the (hopefully short term) irony :).
So how does it work? You start by measuring your baseline
inflammation levels using an at-home, finger prick based, blood
testing kit, that includes a shipping label to send the sample back
to the lab. You then receive your lab results and we start layering
in data-based insights like how your levels compare to other people
like you. From there, you can try a new habit from our list of
scientifically backed options
(https://www.begolden.online/post/lifestyle-interventions-ass...)
or something else you have been meaning to try. Once you choose a
habit (for example, adding ginger to your diet), we will help you
track how often you do it. Our current digital platform design is
to text you daily and ask you: Did you have ginger yesterday?
(yes/no). Then you will re-measure and receive insights. For
example, you may get an insight like - you have had ginger 15 of
the last 30 days and your inflammation levels are down 10%. Based
on the data from clinical studies, some interventions can change
inflammation levels (as measured by hsCRP) within weeks and others
show within months [3]. As such, we recommend testing every 1-2
months to likely provide adequate time for change to your levels.
Each person's needs and time to impact will vary, so you can adjust
this frequency up or down, depending on what works best for you.
Note - You can of course request that we delete your data at any
time and we'll do so. We measure inflammation using high
sensitivity C Reactive Protein (hsCRP), an established marker of
systemic inflammation [4]. For those not familiar, I thought I
would also share a bit about what inflammation is. There are two
types of inflammation--acute and chronic. Acute (short-term)
inflammation is beneficial [5]. It can be caused by infections as
well as cell damage. During acute inflammation, the immune system
ramps up, removes pathogens/heals tissue then ramps back down [6].
In chronic inflammation, something other than acute infections
(like physical inactivity, obesity, and/or disturbed sleep) may be
driving inflammation and the process doesn't ramp down so the
immune system is constantly active. This constant activation may
lead to the immune system attacking healthy cells, draining energy,
and losing normal functionality [7]. Chronic inflammation can
disrupt homeostasis [8], which is when the body is in balance and
functioning optimally. In the future, we should be able to let you
learn from not only your own data but data from others
(anonymously, of course). For example, you may be able to see what
interventions have shown the greatest impact among people like you.
By bringing more people and interventions to the platform, we can
improve the experience for everyone. We've recently been building
a tool to help you see how different lifestyle choices can impact
inflammation scores among different demographics, based on
aggregated data. Check out our "work in progress" tool here:
https://begolden.shinyapps.io/shinyapp/ - we'd be interested in
what you think of it! If you're interested in your inflammation
levels, you can pre-order Be Golden here with a special HN discount
code HACKERNEWS to receive the first test and access to the digital
platform for just $59: https://www.begolden.online/ If you are not
ready to order and just want to learn more, you can do so at the
same link. We're looking forward to hearing any of your comments,
questions, ideas, experiences, and feedback! p.s. dang suggested
we put all the footnotes in a comment because there are so many of
them - so they're here:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32650321.
Author : Snehpatel1
Score : 142 points
Date : 2022-08-30 13:28 UTC (9 hours ago)
| kite_and_code wrote:
| Can you ship to and from Europe?
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Not yet but we hope to expand globally in the future!
| edf13 wrote:
| European here too and very interested in this too. Be worth
| you having a email signup form for notifications of rollout
| to other countries!
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Good to know! As a short term hack - would you mind just
| noting you are from Europe in the "learn more" form under
| the open "other" field here: https://www.begolden.online/
| edf13 wrote:
| I would but your site is jumping and scrolling back to
| the top whenever I try to fill the form in (on safari
| iOS)
| nonameiguess wrote:
| This sounds like you're doing research. You're trying to gather
| data on daily habits and interventions taken by subjects and then
| looking at the impact on their blood marker levels. That is
| normally something that would happen in a randomized controlled
| trial or possibly epidemiological retrospective if you're doing
| pure data mining, and the research subjects would at worst be
| volunteers, but might even be paid. This feels like you're asking
| research subjects to pay to be research subjects so they can take
| your treatments that you don't yet have evidence for.
|
| I don't mean to sound like I'm impugning your ethics, but why are
| you doing this as a startup and not a research proposal? Is it
| normal for YCombinator to fund medical research?
| jaggs wrote:
| Well it looks nice and shiny! But I'm afraid it's absolutely a
| revamp of uBiome. This sort of remote diagnosis simply can't be
| done to any degree of accuracy with a single pinprick blood
| sample. You need a significant program of investigation before
| you can start trying to isolate what you're looking for.
| Diagnosis of this type is incredibly complicated because there
| are so many variables - internal and external - involved.
|
| And at those astronomical costs, the customer will go bust long
| before any meaningful results/benefits acrue. Not trying to be
| rude, but this is one of those projects which looks fantastic on
| a marketing slide deck, but in practice it's woefully inadequate.
| My only suggestion would be to pivot to a much more focused niche
| as soon as you can. One which can be reliable with minimal
| inputs.
| blueyes wrote:
| > a revamp of uBiome.
|
| That's simply untrue. You shouldn't make wild accusations that
| you can't back up. Almost everything about Be Golden and uBiome
| is different.
|
| Be Golden is tracking biomarkers associated with inflammation.
| That is in itself is not a diagnosis. BG is gathering data that
| clinicians can use to make a diagnosis.
|
| uBiome was using swabs, and BG is taking blood. And Be Golden's
| tech is not solely related to the microbiome, as uBiome was.
| eikaramba wrote:
| I recently also developed an App to help me figure out my IBS and
| digestion problems. Basically i looked at all the apps in the app
| store but did not found a simple to use app. Inserting your meals
| should really be as simple as it possibly can, otherwise you will
| end up not using it at all.
|
| If anyone is interested, it is currently available in the google
| app store. Apple coming soon. Foodolyst:
| https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=studio.creatne...
|
| Also available as a webapp:
| https://app.foodolyst.creatness.studio
|
| The app works in German&English. I haven't proof read every
| English entry however, so feedback is very much welcomed. I can
| return lifetime premium access in return :)
|
| Okay enough advertising, sorry but the topic is quite interesting
| and everyone with food problems can just benefit from this.
| benkoller wrote:
| Interesting approach, thanks for the good reads. Would love to
| support, no strings attached, if you see an opportunity. Reached
| out on LI, feel free to dump the request if this feels off to
| you.
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| I'll look out for the message!
| kradeelav wrote:
| Congrats on launching!
|
| Compliments first - you described your elevator pitch of the
| company incredibly well in the starter post here on HN, to the
| point I'd use that as a template on your site and any kind of
| social media materials. Fantastic way to explain what the isasue
| is and how you're tackling it in a novel but practical way.
|
| My immediate thought is "cool idea, but a non starter for me
| personally when I have a lot of questions about data and privacy"
| and how the team's handling patient's data. I'd highly encourage
| you to have a whole page at minimum elucidating the details
| there, if you're using E2E encryption, all that jazz. Given
| people's recent concerns about data collecting and menstrual
| cycles and the recent Roe fallout, this is of special concern to
| me as a woman.
|
| Wishing you and the team best of luck, all the same!
| vicngtor wrote:
| Congrats on the launch! Interested to know if my inflammation
| score will be a
| tucosan wrote:
| Why do you test for hsCRP and not CRP?
|
| What exactly can I learn from my hsCRP values? What can I learn
| from hsCRP that I can't learn from CRP?
|
| hsCRP is a very sensitive marker. If I'd exercise the day before
| the test and my values would be elevated? What would I learn from
| my result in this case?
|
| Will your provide explanations of what influences my individual
| hsCRP levels and what specific interventions I should take in
| case they are elevated?
|
| What is your process if you detect abnormally high hsCRP values?
| How do you alert your customers of their possibly lethal
| condition?
|
| How does your service provide value to me as a customer apart
| from me not needing to go to a lab/doctor to get tested?
|
| Anyways, I don't see much value in getting just hsCRP tested
| standalone without any other meaningful context. What about my
| iron levels? Vitamins? Lipid profile? IgG, IgA? HBa1c. On and on
| it goes. There is a reason that medical doctors collect a host of
| lab data to make informed decisions about their patients health
| and which possible interventions induce postive change without
| interdicting harmful side effects.
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Apologies for the delay. There were a lot of questions so
| wanted to answer all of them in one shot.
|
| >Why do you test for hsCRP and not CRP? What exactly can I
| learn from my hsCRP values? What can I learn from hsCRP that I
| can't learn from CRP?
|
| hsCRP stands for high-sensitivity C-Reactive Protein, while CRP
| stands for C-Reactive Protein. Both tests measure the same
| protein, but hsCRP tests are more sensitive to lower
| inflammation levels and can therefore let you measure these
| lower levels.
|
| See the 'Defining hs-CRP' section in this link for additional
| details: https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/the-application-
| of-high...
|
| >hsCRP is a very sensitive marker. If I'd exercise the day
| before the test and my values would be elevated? What would I
| learn from my result in this case?
|
| Experts recommend avoiding testing when you might be
| experiencing an acute (short term) elevation in hsCRP. Some
| instances that cause short term elevation include bacterial or
| viral infections and strenuous exercise (like running a
| marathon). These cause short term elevations in hsCRP because
| acute inflammation (short term spikes in inflammation) can help
| the body clear pathogens and heal tissues. Here is some related
| scientific literature you may enjoy:
| https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S073510970...
|
| >Will your provide explanations of what influences my
| individual hsCRP levels and what specific interventions I
| should take in case they are elevated?
|
| Yes, we focus on lifestyle interventions that help lower
| inflammation levels. You can find more info here:
| https://www.begolden.online/post/lifestyle-interventions-ass...
|
| We plan to continue to build on this list
|
| >What is your process if you detect abnormally high hsCRP
| values? How do you alert your customers of their possibly
| lethal condition?
|
| The lab results should indicate if your levels are above
| normal. If you have any questions regarding your health, we
| encourage you to always seek the advice of your physician or
| another licensed health care provider
|
| >How does your service provide value to me as a customer apart
| from me not needing to go to a lab/doctor to get tested?
|
| We provide you the information to take action once you receive
| your lab results
|
| >Anyways, I don't see much value in getting just hsCRP tested
| standalone without any other meaningful context. What about my
| iron levels? Vitamins? Lipid profile? IgG, IgA? HBa1c. On and
| on it goes. There is a reason that medical doctors collect a
| host of lab data to make informed decisions about their
| patients health and which possible interventions induce postive
| change without interdicting harmful side effects.
|
| We plan to expand our list of biomarkers in the future, as we
| learn more about our customers
| curmudgeon22 wrote:
| Really interesting chart on your lifestyle interventions
| link. Curcumin has both a very strong performance and pretty
| good range. Interesting to see that it is much more so than
| exercise or sleep improvements.
| firasd wrote:
| Very interesting. I remember seeing data in the early days of
| Covid that CRP was quite correlated with severity
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| We are excited to potentially use our platform to research more
| in this area - for example, do people with higher baseline
| hsCRP levels have higher likelihood of long COVID?
| KMnO4 wrote:
| Cool! A couple suggestions:
|
| 1 - the CSS is all over the place on mobile, it looks pretty bad.
|
| 2 - maybe adjust the pricing of the bulk a bit. I assume you want
| to sell the bulk packs more, so incentivize them more.
|
| Instead of $74 for 1 / $69 for 2, make it like $79 for 1 and $64
| for 2, and make sure you say that's "saving $30". Right now it
| feels like it's only $5 off which doesn't convince me (yes I know
| it's $10 actually).
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Great feedback! Yes, our mobile experience (and frankly, web)
| definitely needs work!
| shagymoe wrote:
| I've noticed that my C Reactive Protein were always high when I
| was taking creatine and doing strength training and wasn't sure
| which was the culprit. Likely both. Is there a way to account or
| correct for high hsCRP related to exercise or is the
| recommendation to do less intense exercise?
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| This hits perfectly on an FAQ we have:
|
| Are there any times I should avoid testing?
|
| Experts recommend avoiding testing when you might be
| experiencing an acute (short term) elevation in hsCRP. Some
| instances that cause short term elevation include bacterial or
| viral infections and strenuous exercise (like running a
| marathon). These cause short term elevations in hsCRP because
| acute inflammation (short term spikes in inflammation) can help
| the body clear pathogens and heal tissues.
|
| Here is some related scientific literature you may enjoy:
| https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S073510970...
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0675-0, plus
| sources on this page: https://www.begolden.online/post/lifestyle-
| interventions-ass...
|
| [2] See the Nature article in [1] plus sources on this page:
| https://www.begolden.online/post/scientific-articles-on-the-...).
|
| [3]
| https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19223918/,https://academic.o...,
| https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17909397/
|
| [4]
| https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/c-reactive...,
| https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejm200003233421202,
| https://www.clevelandheartlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04...
|
| [5] https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-
| healthy/understanding...
|
| [6] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0675-0,
| https://www.clinicaltherapeutics.com/article/S0149-2918%2819...
|
| [7] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0675-0,
| https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding...
|
| [8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4369762/
|
| [9] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6831096/
| ,https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/11/5421/htm,
| https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0675-0,
| https://www.cell.com/fulltext/S0092-8674(10)00060-7
|
| [10] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-021-00658-5,
| https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6831096/,
| https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/11/5421/htm
|
| [11] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-021-00658-5
| n8henrie wrote:
| Do you provide any context on the normally expected day-to-day
| variability in CRP levels? I imagine that getting spot checks
| once a month would require a few years (or perhaps decades) if
| data before signal could be reliability differentiated from noise
| in a given individual.
|
| Have you established anything like this in pre-production
| testing? At least something as simple as "make no intentional
| changes to your lifestyle and test monthly for a year," and then
| institute your recommended lifestyle changes and test for another
| year? If so, it would be helpful data to make available (in a
| loud way -- I admit I read your post but haven't perused the
| website yet).
|
| Are there interventions that lower CRP but have no effect (or
| negative effects) on health? I agree with other commenters
| regarding the problems of surrogate markers...
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| I'm sharing my personal results here, where you can see changes
| over time: https://www.begolden.online/post/our-ceo-s-hscrp-
| scores-over....
| vicngtor wrote:
| Congrats on the launch! Coming from the longevity space, I am
| interested to know if your test is suitable to determine the
| efficacy of the following?
|
| 1. Meat vs Vegan Diet
|
| 2. Intermittent Fasting vs No Fasting
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Thank you!!
|
| Based on an initial scan of the publications below it seems
| like it would but I haven't had a chance to review the
| robustness of these publications yet so don't want to
| officially claim this yet :)
|
| vegan diet: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33303765/
|
| intermittent fasting:
| https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S08999...
| mschwarz wrote:
| It's great to see more companies focusing on inflammation. Is it
| possible to create a device like a continuous glucose monitor but
| for inflammation?
| winternett wrote:
| Th glucose monitor warns you to take Insulin but, The question
| for me is what action should be taken after high inflammation
| is detected? It seems like once an alert goes off, it's just a
| warning to go see a doctor.
|
| The treatments for inflammation, and the indication of what
| specifically is causing it, seem to be rather limited to me
| beyond taking antibiotics or anti inflammatory meds.
|
| Ibuprofen is fairly flawed as a regular treatment for many
| because of the ulcer risks...
| mschwarz wrote:
| There are many suggested treatments for inflammation, OP
| mentions "ginger", my guess is that like everything else with
| the body certain treatments work for some people and not
| others. Like how CGM's are used now not just for diabetes but
| for a tighter feedback loop on which foods, etc spike
| insulin, which allows a person to iterate their lifestyle
| faster. It's the same with inflammation- If you have chronic
| inflammation and are trying to reduce it with diet, exercise,
| medication, naturopathic treatments, a tighter feedback loop
| would be a game changer, assuming it was possible. Perhaps
| CRP does not respond as quick to changes in the body as
| glucose, and measuring it all the time isn't gaining much.
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Great comment! We believe there is a future where
| continuous inflammation testing will be possible. Here's a
| team already working on building it: https://onlinelibrary.
| wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/admt.2021013...
|
| To your point, we see it as a potentially tighter feedback
| loop for seeing the impact of lifestyle changes.
| winternett wrote:
| Agreed, that only highlights the need to have a network of
| reliable places someone can go in order to have personally
| tailored care.
|
| Just finding a doctor that can see you immediately in the
| US without racking up expensive emergency room fees is darn
| near impossible now in the US... It always comes back to
| our ritually broken health care system. :(
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Lifestyle changes including those related to nutrition,
| exercise, stress, and sleep can all improve inflammation
| levels. See our blog for a list of lifestyle interventions
| associated with decreased inflammation levels:
| https://www.begolden.online/post/lifestyle-interventions-
| ass...
|
| Each person will respond differently so we suggest testing
| what works best for you.
| theptip wrote:
| One interesting thing about going to continuous (or near-
| continuous) testing is you can get much narrower error bars
| on your baseline.
|
| If you test once a month, how do you know if you accidentally
| tested during a transient spike?
|
| If you test continuously, you can roll up those measurements
| to get things like p95, stddev, whatever.
|
| So it's useful even if you don't want to respond in minutes
| to a spike. (You probably don't need per-second readings for
| this, hourly would be enough.)
|
| I don't know if transient spikes are considered a risk
| factor, but you also get more chance to resolve those too.
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| We think so! We have started to see teams working on this and
| couldn't be more excited:
| https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/admt.2021013...
| congulio wrote:
| Do you contract with a third party lab to analyze the samples? If
| so, can you share which one?
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Yes. Email me at founders@begolden.io
| [deleted]
| aaraujo002 wrote:
| This is very interesting. However, our lifestyle is not very
| linear, meaning that we can have some period more stressful than
| over. In this context, how do you deal with confounding variables
| ? For example, if my inflammation levels decrease in the next few
| weeks, it might be because I took some ginger everyday but it
| might also be because I had a less work and therefore more sleep.
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Love this question. We can track as many additional variables
| as you like. For example - I track my lifestyle intervention
| (meditation) + 4 key dimensions of health (sleep, stress,
| nutrition, exercise) on a scale of 1-5 (1=bad, 5 = good). This
| gives me the added context you are talking about. In the
| future, we also plan to add the ability to connect to your
| wearables.
| thomasfedb wrote:
| This is basically just facilitating people data dredging
| their own health. If you measure one outcome variable and
| enough "candidate" inputs you'll eventually find something
| that looks like a pattern.
|
| As a doctor I measure CRP when I'm specifically looking for
| something - but that's in the context of having formed a
| differential diagnosis, then having considered the pre-test
| probably of each differential, and forming a view that the
| test result with alter the overall likely outcome. The last
| thing I would even want to do (for me or my patients) is to
| start randomly measuring CRP when generally well.
|
| Why not just eat the ginger?
| tucosan wrote:
| They don't even test for CRP but hsCRP (info is buried
| somewhere in the marketing babble). Also see my other
| comment below OP
| imdsm wrote:
| This is a great idea, but the website could be so much better. I
| felt like I wanted to be taken on a journey, of what is this? why
| does it matter to me? how does it work? how can I get involved?
| what's the projects future?
|
| I love the idea, and so do many others, hence why Theranos was
| able to raise what it did, the idea of having insight into our
| own health is exciting, intriguing, and important.
|
| I wish you the best of luck on your journey, but I would
| definitely improve on the site, if you have the resources to do
| so.
| anchochilis wrote:
| Did you actually read the copy on the website?
|
| > Measure your baseline inflammation levels and see how they
| fluctuate with lifestyle choices (nutrition, exercise, sleep,
| stress) so that you can make the right choices for you
|
| > Be Golden works by using an at home finger prick based blood
| testing kit and a digital platform
|
| I'm not sure what "story" is left to be told here. It's pretty
| self-explanatory.
| esel2k wrote:
| Just wondering why focussed on home-testing for 3-4x the price
| versus working with a central lab that is optimized for lowering
| their costs. Especially private lab chains might be interestes in
| additional business. The focus could be rather on results
| tracking & interpretation that could be done for example from
| remote doctors for more rural areas.
|
| Source: Worked for a diagnostic company and later on added value
| service for personal healthcare records. Super interesting
| project you work on:).
| ahstilde wrote:
| Congratulations on your launch! We've had a lot of inquiries
| about inflammation when we see our patients at Wyndly
| (https://www.wyndly.com), so it's good to know someone is
| thinking about making this process easy!
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| thanks for the kind message!
| [deleted]
| paxys wrote:
| .online is an interesting TLD choice.
| jonahbenton wrote:
| Ug, why no shipping to New York?
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Unfortunately, regulatory reasons but I believe we should be
| able to ship to NY by next year!
| somberi wrote:
| Useful service, and tried adding two tests, but decided to not
| order when I saw:
|
| Recurring subtotal $268.00 every 12 months
|
| Do not know if it is useful enough to renew, and I as a customer
| do not like services that presumptively charge me on and on and
| moves the onus to the customer to get out of the charging cycle.
|
| Thanks, useful service, but not for me.
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Good news - once you order, you will get an email that lets you
| manage your subscription at which point you can cancel the
| renewal right away. Let me know if you have any issues with
| that!
| somberi wrote:
| What would work better for me, as an individual, is to not
| lock me in, let me try the goods that I have paid for, and
| evaluate if it satisfies my need, and drive the value
| (through messaging) of leaving my credit card on your file
| for future charges.
|
| That would still not be good news, but just a normal expected
| behavior from a lab testing service.
|
| Again, I am cognizant of the business realities that makes
| you do this, and just reaffirming why I will not pay for your
| services.
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Very understandable. We just created a new link where you
| can order without the subscription here:
| https://shop.begolden.online/products/2-tests
|
| Hope you will give us a try!
| somberi wrote:
| Thank you and kudos for listening to your buyer(s).
| silicon_wally wrote:
| I'm not sure how that is "good news". It's a nasty tactic,
| and shouldn't be celebrated.
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| If helpful, we just created a new link where you can order
| without the subscription here:
| https://shop.begolden.online/products/2-tests
|
| Hope you will give us a try!
| kim07mcm wrote:
| Hi Kimberly here - we greatly appreciate this feedback and
| we've now updated all of our offerings to have a one time
| purchase option: https://shop.begolden.online
| JamesBarney wrote:
| The
|
| https://www.begolden.online/post/lifestyle-interventions-ass...
|
| link is down
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Thanks! Just fixed.
| JamesBarney wrote:
| Nevermind it looks like ATT is just blocking it as spam. I
| can visit the website just fine from my t-mobile phone.
| O__________O wrote:
| Confused. Is it accurate that you are logging self-reported data
| daily, but only running diagnostic tests few times a year at
| roughly $100 a test depending on how many tests the end user
| commits to upfront? If so, with that combination of data, how is
| there any hope of meaningful analysis based individual specific
| observations?
| doix wrote:
| Congratulations on your launch! I apologize in advance for my
| ignorant questions, but here they go.
|
| How can we be certain that inflammation is causing problems
| rather than just being an indicator that something is wrong? As
| in, if we start directly lowering inflammation with some drug or
| whatever, how do we know that it's helping rather than just
| masking the problem? So if someone is obese and inactive, but
| they start eating ginger to reduce their inflammation markers,
| would that improve quality of life?
|
| I guess the best example(as someone that is completely ignorant
| on the topic) I can come up with is heart rate and exercise. We
| know that an elevated heart rate when exercising is good and
| provides benefits. But increasing the heart rate with caffeine
| does not provide the same benefits.
|
| Coming from software where I can use a debugger to examine
| "exactly" what is going on in a program and an ex hardware
| engineer where we had simulators/models that were "pretty
| accurate", medicine/healthcare looks insane. We cannot model the
| human body accurately nor can we observe in great detail the
| processes that go on. I'm pretty amazed medicine is as good as it
| is with those limitations.
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| I will now apologize in advance if I am not answering the
| question :)
|
| Overall, we recommend healthy lifestyle habits versus drugs to
| manage inflammation levels.
| thomasfedb wrote:
| The body is nuts. Fascinatingly and amazingly nuts.
|
| I think an honest answer to your question is "we can't be
| certain". In fact we can probably be fairly confident that
| "inflammation" (as if that's one simple thing) is not going to
| be quite so straightforward.
|
| A person who is obese and sedentary might get some benefit from
| a "magic drug" that prevents the effects of inflammation, but
| they'd be far better advised to adopt a more active lifestyle
| before they put their hopes on ginger.
| debarshri wrote:
| I'm sitting in doctors office waiting for my appointment for an
| inflammation on my hand and I read this. What are the chances.
| aaaaaaaaata wrote:
| 1
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| :)
| ricokatayama wrote:
| cool. I'm writing from another country. Is is possible to have an
| access to the tool, but doing the hscrp test from here?
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| I'd like to do some more research on this - for example, there
| may be some regulatory reasons we may not be able to. Can you
| email me at founders@begolden.io so I can follow up?
| Etheryte wrote:
| This is a very appealing prospect and I'm sure you'll have no
| problem finding paying customers. The main question I can't help
| but ask is, how do I, or any potential customer for that matter,
| know that this isn't simply Theranos 2.0?
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Great question! Theranos was designing its own testing
| machines. Be Golden is using existing validated testing
| methods.
| samatman wrote:
| The chilling effect Theranos created was the worst outcome by
| far.
|
| Most biomedicine companies aren't doing things which can lead
| to a Theranos result, and 99% of the companies which are
| building devices with an eye toward FDA approval are doing so
| honestly.
| IMTDb wrote:
| Theranos promised to build a machine that would reduce the cost
| of blood samples by multiple order of magnitudes. They were
| unsuccessful in building it, and they lied about the progress
| of it all ton investors, journalists etc.
|
| This is using existing - proven - testing methods and process.
| The claims are _much_ less extraordinary; they are not claiming
| to completely transform an industry, but "merely" to give you
| additional insights on your health based on what's already
| known to be working.
|
| Maybe it won't be successful or maybe the insights won't be as
| interesting as they claim, but it's nowhere near what Theranos
| was doing.
| StayTrue wrote:
| It's one conventional blood marker, widely used in medicine.
| Not suspicious IMO.
| jpmattia wrote:
| First: Congrats on attacking this space. I think there is all
| sorts of need in the self-managed care world.
|
| That said (you just knew there was going to be criticism :)
|
| > _Overall, we recommend healthy lifestyle habits versus drugs to
| manage inflammation levels._
|
| Such a blanket recommendation strikes me as problematic: Which
| "lifestyle habits" handle the case where CRP is high due to
| things like (say) cancer? Or mold-toxicity? Or auto-immune
| issues?
|
| In constructing the company, I assume there is a general counsel
| talented in medical liability, which strikes me as a minefield. I
| also assume the very public history of Theranos is also going to
| invite interesting scrutiny, even though you're running a
| legitimate operation.
|
| Good luck to you in any case. Self-managed care should be an
| interesting space over the next decade imho.
| biotinker wrote:
| Theranos is so huge in some people's minds because it billed
| itself first as a Silicon Valley style tech company, so people
| associated with Silicon Valley style tech companies are well
| aware of it.
|
| There have been tons of companies doing things far more similar
| to Theranos' claims especially in the liquid biopsy space,
| without any negative association, partly because they bill
| themselves as biotech companies, and partly because their tech
| actually works.
|
| The main reason Theranos was able to get away with what they
| claimed, was people in the industry knew what they claimed was
| approximately possible, just hadn't yet been done with the tech
| of the day.
|
| 11 years later, that tech has continuously improved. Biotech
| companies with interesting ideas about how to approach liquid
| biopsy and personalized medicine don't get extra scrutiny
| because of Theranos. The exception is if they are going for
| funding to people more familiar with Theranos than with
| biotech. Which is itself as much of a red flag as one needs.
| lazyasciiart wrote:
| > was people in the industry knew what they claimed was
| approximately possible, just hadn't yet been done with the
| tech of the day.
|
| Everyone I know in the industry has always said that what
| they claimed was physically impossible, tech be damned.
| rajin444 wrote:
| > Or auto-immune issues?
|
| N=1, but I have an autoimmune disease that has reacted
| extremely well to lifestyle (stress & diet) changes after years
| of expensive drugs failing. Or regression to the mean happened.
| Or a recent solar flare fixed what was wrong with me. Nobody
| knows.
|
| Doctors are great but they're overworked and the amount of time
| required to truly help patients isn't feasible. When science
| doesn't have any easy solution to your problem self care (or
| tons of money) is the only option - which makes it awesome to
| see products like those in the OP! Hopefully it'll be a step up
| from a lot of the snake oil self care out there.
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| This! x100! Thank you for sharing your journey
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| :) I love the questions - they help us improve!
|
| You are correct that there are sources of inflammation that are
| not lifestyle related, but many of the drivers of inflammation
| are indeed lifestyle related.
|
| I really like this article on the drivers of inflammation:
| https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0675-0
|
| I particularly like Figure 1
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| I also thought I would share our blog on lifestyle
| interventions associated with decreased inflammation levels:
|
| https://www.begolden.online/post/lifestyle-interventions-
| ass...
| [deleted]
| carlyballen wrote:
| I preordered test kits. Looking forward to using it soon and
| seeing my results!
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| thank you!
| pipeline_peak wrote:
| dboreham wrote:
| Actually the people with this sort of condition tend to have a
| sense for what foods may be causing them trouble. So they're
| already thinking "hmm...did I eat onion" earlier?? Automating
| this process they're already going through seems reasonable.
| Obviously this requires that the questions are tailored -- it
| wouldn't make sense to ask about a randomly selected food from
| the gamut of all foods.
| sirsinsalot wrote:
| As someone with an auto-immune disorder, i've managed to reduce
| inflammation with diet changes, but it is always an ongoing
| battle against various triggers.
|
| Something like this would be great to help me monitor
| inflammation levels and correlate that data with lifestyle
| changes (did I eat gluten that week as a cheat? Did I have some
| milk or chocolate?)
|
| There's so many lifestyle changes I make that "appear" to reduce
| inflammation but there's no real way to monitor the effectiveness
| of those changes on inflammation markers.
|
| I know, for example, a primary trigger for me is a pet allergy
| that triggers a general immune response, which in-turn raises my
| baseline inflammation and then causes the auto-immune issues. One
| pet exposure and i'm a wreck for weeks.
|
| Being able to track this, and see if antihistamines impact the
| inflammation ect is helpful.
|
| My condition isn't serious enough to warrant immunosuppressive
| treatment, and heavy steroids are overkill.
| FounderBurr wrote:
| You can get a CRP level from any lab without a doctors order for
| about $30. The correct test, drawn and handled correctly, unlike
| this method.
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Great point - our pricing is a function of the added costs of
| packaging, shipping, etc. We believe at home testing will offer
| consumers more convenience than going into the doctors office.
| However, if we learn that in person testing is preferred, we
| would definitely explore that as an offering!
| dboreham wrote:
| Not very practical to do every day.
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Wanted to check - are you referring to the testing? If so,
| you are right! We actually recommend testing every 1-2 months
| to likely provide adequate time for change to your levels.
| Each person's needs and time to impact will vary, so you can
| adjust this frequency up or down, depending on what works
| best for you.
| masters3d wrote:
| I love all the new health monitoring startups.
|
| I recently tried documenting my glucose using one of the many
| startups using electronic patches that measure glucose every few
| minutes.
|
| What is the likelihood that a similar electronic patch would
| become available for inflammation in the industry?
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| We believe it will be possible to start doing a more
| "continuous" monitor for inflammation in the future and are
| looking forward to that day! If it is possible, we plan to
| offer it as part of Be Golden
| enviclash wrote:
| Being a researcher in social sciences, one thing that puzzles me
| of medicine is that a single timepoint analysis leads to major
| decisions. I understand you perform analyses every 1-2 months, is
| there data indicating that the sweet spot for maximising
| information from testing is there?
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| The frequency of measurement is up to you. The more you test,
| the more detailed your data and insights are. Based on the data
| from clinical studies, some interventions can change
| inflammation levels (as measured by hsCRP) within weeks and
| others show within months. As such, we recommend testing every
| 1-2 months to likely provide adequate time for change to your
| levels. Each person's needs and time to impact will vary, so
| adjust this frequency up or down, depending on what works best
| for you. See our blog to see how our CEO's levels have changed
| over time: https://www.begolden.online/post/our-ceo-s-hscrp-
| scores-over...
| jjallen wrote:
| This is like 10x the cost of other hsCRP tests you can take from
| home.
|
| Pretty hard to justify the cost differential.
|
| Also, going to a proper doctor and having a real blood test done
| once a year would cost way less than this.
| mritchie712 wrote:
| > proper doctor and having a real blood test done once a year
| would cost way less than this.
|
| how much is that?
| muschellij2 wrote:
| Most insurance plans see this as preventative care to get
| bloodwork done when you're doing your wellness visit, so, if
| you have insurance, $0 out of pocket.
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| In my experience, some doctors won't order hsCRP (the
| marker we measure) for everyone. If they do, I think it
| would be rare for insurance to cover it multiple times per
| year.
| metadat wrote:
| Why do we need it multiple times per year? Maybe that's
| the part that needs to change, so as many people as
| possible have access to the data?
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| The idea is that by testing multiple times per year, you
| get more insight into what may be driving your levels and
| be able to intervene sooner
| [deleted]
| Grimburger wrote:
| Not sure about other countries but this is completely free in
| Australia. It's a general consult and bulk-billed onto
| medicare.
|
| I get an annual blood test done, even if not in the country,
| have paid $30 in Europe and $20 in Asia as a foreigner, isn't
| even worth bothering to claim on overseas health insurance.
| SyneRyder wrote:
| That seems correct to me. I tried to look up the costs in
| Australia and I _think_ this is the Medicare Benefits
| Schedule for it (ie C-reactive protein), though I 'm happy
| to be corrected if I'm wrong:
|
| http://www9.health.gov.au/mbs/fullDisplay.cfm?type=item&q=6
| 6...
|
| If correct, it seems the cost to the taxpayer is $9.70 AUD
| (about $6.67 US). So even without bulk-billing making it
| free here, that's still a 10x markup.
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| Thanks for this info, particularly as we look to expand
| internationally :)
|
| Our price includes lab costs but also the cost of the
| packaging, shipping, ordering physician, etc. which all
| starts to add up!
|
| We decided to start with at home kits for the convenience
| but are planning to explore other methods of measuring
| levels (e.g., partnering with physical labs)
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| I believe our prices are in line with other at home tests.
| Would you mind sharing any links you have that have pricing 10x
| lower? I'd love to look into it and see if we can bring our
| costs down for our customers!
| unmole wrote:
| I'm obviously not in the target market but apparently I can get
| the test for 450 INR or 5.65 USD. This is includes a trained
| phlebotomist coming to my house to take the sample:
| https://www.1mg.com/labs/test/High-Sensitive-CRP-2274
| Snehpatel1 wrote:
| This is helpful to know as we look into international
| expansion.
|
| Our current pricing is in the US market. Hopefully, costs
| decrease over here over time!
| pirate787 wrote:
| The whole point is that the test is part of a system to put the
| results in context, more frequently that an annual visit. My
| doctor isn't very good and has never brought up or tested me
| for this.
| bitcoinmoney wrote:
| This would be great for canker sores.
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