Winners and Losers on the Menu

This is the third of a four-part series reviewing a variety of companies that offer personalized nutrition testing and advice. For each company reviewed in this series, I serve as the guinea pig: taking the test, waiting for the results and following their recommendations for two months before reporting my findings here. We’ll learn together how these tests work—and perhaps if this test is right for you.

My fascination with the human microbiome has been the source of many jokes among friends and family over the years. But the joke is now on them, with study after study showing the critical role played by those little microbes, not just for human health but for the way our bodies process the food we eat. Even more fun, every person has a different combination of bacteria and fungi that make up their gut microbiome. Thus, everyone digests food a little bit differently. This personalized nutrition company takes that into consideration.

AT A GLANCE

Company: Day Two

DayTwo.com

What They Are and What They Do: DayTwo is an evidence-based company that came out of research done at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Israel, looking for the perfect human diet. The study looked at the blood glucose response to foods as the major marker because of its link to obesity, diabetes and other metabolic diseases.

What they found was that there was not one food that everyone in the study responded to the same way. There is no perfect human diet because people are all different. So they developed an algorithm that would help predict what foods work best for individuals and then make personalized nutrition recommendations. The results are based on blood glucose, the microbiome, other metabolic blood markers and self-reported health status.

They have since partnered with other well-respected scientific organizations and universities to continue clinically testing their product. They focus on clients with Type 2 diabetes or who are prediabetic, but many others have found benefit through their program (including increased energy, better digestion and weight loss).

Cost: $349. This covers your microbiome test, their app and an app orientation with a nutrition and meal-planning team member. It also covers the very specific nutrition recommendations. It does not cover the detailed blood tests that the company requests, including HbA1c (hemoglobin or diabetes blood test), cholesterol, TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), fasting glucose, fasting triglycerides and more.

The Tests: DayTwo sends a kit for an easy stool microbiome test with step-by-step instructions for what to do and how to send it back. Yes, you have to collect a poop sample. It is unpleasant, but sanitary if you follow directions. Test results take about six to eight weeks to process.

The blood tests recommended are often part of routine screenings in an annual physical. If you haven’t been to the doctor in the last six months, you may have to make an appointment to get these done. With test results in hand, it takes about five minutes to download and then plug the data into the app. It may take another 10 minutes to then fill out the health questionnaire and your goals, also on the app.

The Recommendations: Results come in two forms. First, you get an email letting you know that the microbiome results are in. Your medical info is only available on your private account on the website, not via email or on the app. Second, the app is populated with “your foods”—recommendations including “meals”: grouped by breakfast, lunch, dinner, with pasta, with rice, sandwiches, salads and dessert; “foods”: grouped by fruits, vegetables, dairy and dairy substitutes, bread et al, meat, fish and eggs, legumes, tofu and nuts, snacks and sweets and beverages; and “snacks,” which is just a list of foods.

The more information you give, the more detailed the recommendations will be. A newer feature offers the ability to add your food preferences: kosher, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and/or dairy free. Foods in your app will then fit your lifestyle.

The best part for me is that all meals and specific foods are color-coded and given a “grade” based on a zero-to-10 scale. Lower numbers (0–3.9) are red, meaning avoid—typically foods that will spike your blood glucose levels. Mid-range numbers (4–6.9) are yellow and suggested to be eaten in moderation. Higher numbers (generally above 7) are green. Making these foods your daily focus will help keep you on an even keel.

The grading system taps into a primal competitive beast within, at least for me. As you input the foods you eat during into a diary section of the app, you get an average “grade” for the day, based on the same numbered system. The more green foods you eat, the better your score. The more you try to “win,” the better your food choices.

My recommendations were pretty unexpected. Plenty of foods that are usually considered quite healthy are in the red for me. While strawberries, unsweetened coconut and melons are all green, I am supposed to avoid grapes, mango, pink grapefruit and apples. Tomatoes, avocados and cooked Brussels sprouts all get a pass, but lima beans, baked potatoes and yams are all a no-go. Crème brûlée and cheesecake get a free pass, but fruit salad with walnuts needs to be avoided.

My Outcome: To be honest, I am not very good at planning ahead and plugging my foods into the app. On the days that I did, I always chose better-for-me foods. I also did eat things on my “avoid” list but tried to balance them with extra protein or higher-ranked foods. I only lost four pounds in the two months, but I am confident that if I had been slightly more diligent about eating only “green” foods, it would have been more. Possibly because of that, I didn’t notice a huge difference in my energy levels or my sleep.

In a Nutshell: I recommend this program especially for folks with blood sugar regulation issues. I think it is helpful even for the nondiabetic to have an idea of which foods work better for their individual makeup. DayTwo would be especially great for the personality that likes competition, or someone who is very organized about shopping.

The beauty is that the app doesn’t expire. You can keep it as long as you need. Now, where is that cheesecake?