Barrow

This paper published in #Nature is one of the most exciting and profound recent contributions to health, making a significant step towards solving bio-observability at the cellular level to help us prevent and reverse diseases, instead of just managing or treating symptoms. I wrote a post titled "Bio-observability and Closed Feedback Loops Can Revolutionize Health and Wellness.": https://lnkd.in/gsW-D_gC This paper marks a pivotal moment for #health and #wellness because, for the first time, new technology is enabling us to observe the impact of different interventions, in this case, exercise, at scale at the cellular level across genders, and different organs and tissues within those organs, through a #multiomic approach. In control theory, the more you can observe a system, the more you can control it. This work will profoundly help us understand the mechanisms of action with high fidelity, which is the first step in controlling the complex system of human biology. This may eventually lead to real-time monitoring of the right biomarkers and personalized interventions that modulate these biomarkers to prevent or reverse disease in humans! Big congratulations to the team including Euan Ashley and countless others that worked on this; I am hopeful that this type of work will eventually change the world of medicine and offers a real chance to reverse the concerning health trends in the U.S. and globally. https://lnkd.in/gzT4x3Bq

Have you ever considered how much information is hidden in your grocery receipt? Decisions about what to eat are made at two key moments: at the time of purchase and when we actually eat the food. The decision made at purchase usually predetermines the eating decision, since if it’s in the house, someone you love is going to eat it! Analyzing grocery receipts is a powerful method for understanding the eating patterns of families. This analysis can help: 1. Identify unhealthy items that can easily be substituted 2.Balance the intake of protein, fiber, fats, carbs, and micronutrients 3. Optimize costs 4. Identify high-quality alternatives Here is a quick video of a short demo of what Barrow can do:

Solving complexity to achieve simplicity has been central in my career and personal life! There were a few core principles we lived by when working at #Apple, some of these were deeply ingrained in the culture of the company. One was centered around the question: How do we conquer complexity to achieve simplicity instead of being simplistic? "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, simplicity that comes from conquering complexities, not ignoring them. Simplicity isn't just a visual style; it's not just minimalism or the absence of clutter. It's understanding the underlying challenges and finding an elegant solution." So, in designing Barrow, I think about this all the time. Nutrition is complex, very complex! How do we conquer complexity to help customers have a simple experience and answer a complex, but simple question of: "What should I eat?" There is so much complexity to conquer here based on a million questions, of which a few are really important: 1. What is your demographic information? 2. What are you trying to achieve? 3. What are your dietary restrictions? 4. What are your preferences? and many more. Then, based on the data, we have to figure out: 1. What are their energy needs? 2. What is the optimal macronutrient mix based on the factors above? 3. What are the ideal micronutrient needs? 4. What are suggestions for meals that they can actually cook and would enjoy eating and meets all of their hyper-personalized preferences and restrictions? 5. What should they buy, and even where can they buy it from in the most convenient way, in the quantities they need? 6. Is it possible to optimize for the grocery shopping experience, both for ease of shopping and cost? We have more work to do, but see the demo from Barrow solving complexity, and answering the simple question: Health Goal -> Calories + Macro Nutrients + Micro Nutrients -> Meals you'd actually enjoy eating -> Grocery list you can actually buy. The combination of human and machine intelligence, for the first time in history, allows for an optimization engine that can balance #health, #taste, variety, and even cost in a hyper-personalized manner with little effort, to make healthy #eating simple. Something that was rarely achievable for many before, and that we hope can improve the #healthspan of our society!