Live data from Hacker News

Launch HN: Nutrigene (YC W18) – Tailor-made liquid supplements using health data

news.ycombinator.com

111–120 of 127 posts

Re: Launch HN: Nutrigene (YC W18) – Tailor-made liquid supplements using health data

#111
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you link me to the reference that states people should use supplements who have a normal diet? My point was that athletes are using their bodies in the extreme do not require supplements. Discovering new findings with me is usually fine, but am nervous when it involves my health.

I agree with you, kayhi. This is our health, and we want to make it so that everyone in the world not only top-tier athletes are never deficient. Sure, here's a CDC report: https://www.cdc.gov/nutritionreport/pdf/Nutrition_Book_compl... as well as this secondary study that summarizes some of the findings https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4822995/ .

Thanks, but these references are reporting demographic and biochemical indicators. They do not state that people with a normal diet need supplementation.

Summary reference:

"The Nutrition Report has limitations. First, it does not cover information beyond biochemical indicators, such as dietary intake, supplement usage, hematologic measurements, and anthropometric body measurements, which are generally used together with the biomarker information to comprehensively assess nutritional status."

"forfeit insight into the association between variables unique to each individual biomarker"

Re: Launch HN: Nutrigene (YC W18) – Tailor-made liquid supplements using health data

#112

Hi Min, say hi to Greg for me! Check out LabDoor (YC W15), they might be able to help with a lot of testing and insights as you guys grow.

We are definitely checking you guys out. We've spoken to Neil to set something up soon. :)

I’m not LabDoor, but great to hear you’ve already reached out!

Re: Launch HN: Nutrigene (YC W18) – Tailor-made liquid supplements using health data

#113
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you, kayhi. This is our health, and we want to make it so that everyone in the world not only top-tier athletes are never deficient. Sure, here's a CDC report: https://www.cdc.gov/nutritionreport/pdf/Nutrition_Book_compl... as well as this secondary study that summarizes some of the findings https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4822995/ .

Thanks, but these references are reporting demographic and biochemical indicators. They do not state that people with a normal diet need supplementation. Summary reference: "The Nutrition Report has limitations. First, it does not cover information beyond biochemical indicators, such as dietary intake, supplement usage, hematologic measurements, and anthropometric body measurements, which are generally used together…

Hi Kayhi, quickly, what do you define people with normal diet? There is an array of different diet and different health spectrum that doesn't constitute a visit to the doctor or even have the thought of getting a blood panel. As mentioned above, the scientific rigor for each supplement efficacy on some human clinical trials are sometimes over-simplification of findings from very short trials that don't look into more longitudinal studies. And this is just the non-healthy populations. Most clinical trials that do work on healthy populations tend to focus on athletes. We are still looking more studies that focus on "average" populations that aren't necessarily unhealthy and pro athlete population.

In the end, what we are doing is using data to see if controlling for purity in supplementation improves people's definition of health. If we can control parameters (purity, vitamin active form, etc.), can we see those changes quantitatively rather than qualitatively.

Thanks for your inquiry.

Re: Launch HN: Nutrigene (YC W18) – Tailor-made liquid supplements using health data

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I truly understand the skepticism especially when starting this company. That's why we are putting standards and QA processes to make sure our vitamins are pure and not filled with 99% fillers as most vitamins do. We are targeting people who have taken a step towards reducing their refine sugar, carbs, and proper exercise. Our customers typically work out and eat healthy, but are finding that supplementation is worki…

> not filled with 99% fillers Personally, my doubts about the supplement industry aren't about the purity of the vitamin supplements, but the effectiveness of supplements in general.

I can vouch for https://examine.com/ being a great resource on the effectiveness of supplements

Re: Launch HN: Nutrigene (YC W18) – Tailor-made liquid supplements using health data

#115
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are looking to expand into other countries this coming year in particular possibly Canada and Australia. Where are you hoping for us to ship?

Why not ship worldwide all at once?

The US is notoriously unregulated. Why bother in countries with strong consumer protection and health claim laws? Ride the wave of corruption while it's still possible. Its not going to go anywhere under Trump.

Re: Launch HN: Nutrigene (YC W18) – Tailor-made liquid supplements using health data

#116
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting you suggest in this post that reducing carbs is a step towards a healthier diet. A whole food plant based diet is mostly carbs and is generally regarded as the healthiest diet available. The field of nutritional science is as valid as any and saying it ia becoming more validated science suggests to me you havent been exposed to the thousands of high quality studies being published every year. This is a hu…

Despite the official-sounding name, nutritionfacts.org is run by Dr. Michael Greger, a passionate advocate of veganism and animal rights. This doesn't mean it should be dismissed, but it is at its root a political project — it is by no means neutral or objective with regards to the science.

The 200+ volunteers working with Dr Gregor have never even mentioned animal rights as far as I remember and Ive reviewed personally most of what they have published.

It is as unpolitical as you can get - a volunteer group doing an ongoing literature review of nutrition papers and publishing their condensed findings in video and constantly updated book form.

So yes it does aim to be objective with regards to science, thats the whole point. Which you would know if you spent more than 5 minutes researching before blessing the world with your knowledge.

Re: Launch HN: Nutrigene (YC W18) – Tailor-made liquid supplements using health data

#117
post #41
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(1) Your 10x claim is obvious bullshit. Where is your research showing a measurable health improvement that is 10x greater? (2) Where is your peer reviewed research demonstrating that your system leads to measurable health improvements? Your company, like virtually every supplement company, is a scam that plays on the fears and ignorance of its customers. You have an obvious conflict of interest in that you both reco…

> Spare us the sanctimony. You're a con artist and you know it Personal attacks are not allowed on Hacker News. We ban accounts that do this, regardless of whom you're attacking, so please don't do it again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

His or her language wasnt great, but they made a very specific, falsifiable claim.

A confidence trickster or con artist is a very specific type of endeavor and it should absolutely be ruled out that this isn't what's going on here.

Personally im on the fence but it is most certainly possible that this is the truth here and discourse on this should be encouraged.

Great claims (as we have here) require great evidence (not supplied) and one possible explanation is that the founder is using his or her genuine credentials in a confidence trickster way.

Its a fine line but the core of this discussion is in fact about the legitimacy of this individual presenting as an expert, so you may want to ease off in this case regarding your interpretation of this being a 'personal attack'.

Re: Launch HN: Nutrigene (YC W18) – Tailor-made liquid supplements using health data

#118
post #117
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Spare us the sanctimony. You're a con artist and you know it Personal attacks are not allowed on Hacker News. We ban accounts that do this, regardless of whom you're attacking, so please don't do it again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

His or her language wasnt great, but they made a very specific, falsifiable claim. A confidence trickster or con artist is a very specific type of endeavor and it should absolutely be ruled out that this isn't what's going on here. Personally im on the fence but it is most certainly possible that this is the truth here and discourse on this should be encouraged. Great claims (as we have here) require great evidence (…

It's perfectly possible to raise relevant concerns without being uncivil. Better, in fact, because then one isn't discrediting them with bad behavior.

Re: Launch HN: Nutrigene (YC W18) – Tailor-made liquid supplements using health data

#119
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I truly understand the skepticism especially when starting this company. That's why we are putting standards and QA processes to make sure our vitamins are pure and not filled with 99% fillers as most vitamins do. We are targeting people who have taken a step towards reducing their refine sugar, carbs, and proper exercise. Our customers typically work out and eat healthy, but are finding that supplementation is worki…

It sounds like you are admitting that you're filling a gap in the market: specifically, "body hackers" who will put anything in their bodies as long as it sounds edgy and new. And that you don't have any research to back any of this up? You're doing the usual handwavey thing, which is to say that you know that it's not a good product today, but somehow you're going to take the profits from selling the unproven thing…

Soylent...?

Re: Launch HN: Nutrigene (YC W18) – Tailor-made liquid supplements using health data

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean the same market the decided Justin Bieber is a good musician? The same market that allowed Hillary and Trump to pass the primaries?

grzm is reposting a comment, taken out of context, from my comment history. But I'll respond anyway: the market didn't necessarily decide that Bieber is a good musician, only that he provides "value," whatever that may be--behavior, personality, music, sex appeal, etc. As for for Hillary and Trump, yep, same market ;).

Decided? Or were led to "decide"?
Post reply on HN