The Fourth Pillar of Mental Health
/At Frontier, we often back entrepreneurs and their businesses based on a sound strategy and a simple belief that the technology has a greater purpose than can be proven at the time of investment. Examples include Prolacta Bioscience, where the clinical efficacy of human milk in treating premature infants wasn’t yet proven, or Syndio, where it wasn’t obvious that pay equity would be given the priority it deserves.
A couple of years ago, we backed Digbi Health, a company which uses gut biomes to provide dietary recommendations in a more personalized way. While we did not yet have the data, when we made the seed stage investment, we firmly believed that better dietary behavior would have more generally positive effects than simply weight loss.
Digbi recently published an exciting study on improving mental health through microbiome care in The Journal of Personalized Medicine. The study showed that the Digbi program, while clinically proven to improve a patient’s GI/microbiome health, can also improve the mental health of members struggling with diagnosed anxiety and sleep disorders.
The Study: Physicians from Northwestern Medical School conducted a study of 300 participants using the Digbi program, with over 64% of patients seeing improvement in sleep and reduction of anxiety. Participants improved sleep-inducing and anxiety-reducing hormones like serotonin and melatonin, most of which were produced by bacteria and the gut, through Digbi’s personalized food intervention program.
The POV: The link between digestive and mental health is finally being studied in way that gives individuals personalized, actionable data. While many would agree that diet is a contributor to one’s mental health, it’s commonly perceived as a holistic connection that is difficult to quantify. And yet with this study, Digbi has done exactly that; clinically proving how its microbiome/genetics-based GI program can influence the 'gut-brain' axis, a two-way link between the brain's cognitive and emotional centers and the functioning of the intestines in a data-driven way. Managing one’s mental health requires a full spectrum approach, Digbi is giving individuals the tools to measure, and therefore manage, this connection.
The Future: Digital health technologies continue to evolve how health professionals manage health risks and promote wellness. Within this landscape, Digbi is building the platform to deliver the Fourth Pillar of Mental Health, fitting into a broader set of emerging solutions for personalized care plans.
Personalized Apps - Calm, Headspace
Virtual access to therapists - SonderMind, Talkspace
Digital therapeutics - Sleepio, reSET-O
Gut microbiome via targeted diet and prebiotics - Digbi Health
We’re excited to follow Digbi’s journey to revolutionize microbiome management, and the many physical and mental health benefits this approach yields. Read more about the study published in The Journal of Personalized Medicine here.