October 5, 2017
Click here for the full written transcript of this podcast episode.
Naveen K. Jain is one of the most interesting guys I have ever met.
Naveen Jain is an entrepreneur and philanthropist driven to solve the world’s biggest challenges through innovation. He is the founder of several successful companies including Moon Express, Viome, Bluedot, TalentWise, Intelius and InfoSpace.
Moon Express is the only company to have permission from the US government to leave earth's orbit and land on the moon. They are developing technologies to harvest planetary resources on the moon and developing infrastructure to make humanity a multi-planetary society.
Naveen Jain is a trustee of the board at the X PRIZE Foundation where he is focused on finding entrepreneurial solutions to address the global challenges in health, education, women empowerment, agriculture, and energy. He recently launched a million-dollar Women Safety XPRIZE to empower the women around the world.
Naveen Jain is on the board of Singularity University, an interdisciplinary university with the mission to educate and inspire leaders to address humanity’s grand challenges through innovative technologies.
Naveen Jain has been awarded many honors for his entrepreneurial successes and leadership skills including “Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year”, “Albert Einstein Technology Medal ”for pioneers in technology, “Humanitarian Innovation Award” at the United Nations, “ Distinguished Global Thinker Award” by IILM, “Most inspiring Entrepreneur” by Andaaz TV, “Most admired Serial Entrepreneur” by Silicon India, “Top 20 Entrepreneurs” and “Lifetime Achievement Award” for the leadership in the technology industry and support of other entrepreneurs by Red Herring.
Naveen's latest project is called “Viome”, a cutting-edge gut and microbiome analysis company I first revealed in the must-see video “What Is Viome? How Gut Metatranscriptome & Microbiome Analysis Can Change Your Health.“. Viome is focused on disrupting healthcare with the goal of “making illness elective”. They have developed technologies to analyze the biochemistry and ecosystem of our body that consists of millions of metabolites and trillions of micro-organisms. Their plan is to identify biomarkers that are predictive of chronic diseases and prevent them through personalized diet & nutrition.
During our discussion, you'll discover:
-How Naveen got permission to land on the moon and built the largest moon rock collection…[10:15]
-Naveen's unique system for learning new things…[12:20]
-Why Naveen became so interested in the microbiome…[22:35]
-How the “poop” from young creatures can make older creatures more sprightly and young…[31:50]
-Why Naveen thinks most microbiome evaluations are complete snake oil…[39:40]
-The reason you must test your gut fungus in addition to your gut bacteria…[44:20]
-The fascinating way that a gut test can tell you how much you are actually working out…[45:55]
-How Naveen licensed $21 million gut sequencing technology from Los Alamos laboratory…[49:20]
-Whether you can create a customized probiotic strain specific to you…[52:50]
-How glyphosate is killing your microbiome…[56:55]
-Naveen's shocking prediction about the next big thing in health care…[61:15]
-And much more…
Resources from this episode:
–The Facebook Live version of this podcast
-What Is Viome? How Gut Metatranscriptome & Microbiome Analysis Can Change Your Health.
–Ben's podcast about glyphosate and the Restore supplement his kids take every day
–The book “Beyond Human” by Eve Herold
-Eran Segal's Wiezmann institute lab in Israel
-Young guts make elderly fish sprightly
-Obesity, metabolic syndrome and gastrointestinal disease are all influenced by our gut microbiome.
-Our microbiome controls our immune system more than we realize.
-What we eat alters our microbiome faster than expected.
-Our microbiome is associated with both type II diabetes and the complications that come with it.
-Gut microbiota have been linked to Parkinson’s disease and its motor symptoms.
-Certain bacteria have been linked to atherosclerosis, an all-too-common heart condition.
-Microbes are involved in the development of Alzheimer’s pathology.
-Shifts in the makeup of our gut microbiome are associated with colorectal cancer.
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Do you have questions, thoughts or feedback for Naveen or me? Leave your comments below and one of us will reply! As an update, Viome used to have $595 for two tests per year but based on customer feedback, they now have now gone to $399 per year for one test and any additional tests during the year are $199. So two tests per year are still less than $599 and you can do 4 tests per year for under $999. You can click here to get moved to the front of the waitlist right away.
I used the promo code that was supposed to ‘fast track’ my sample. I contacted Viome after a month of waiting for results, and was told that there would be a delay because of a lab upgrade. Viome said it was going to take an additional month for me to get results. They said that they would send me a complimentary retest kit for my patience. I waited the additional month and contacted them again. I was then told that there was some other problem and that my sample would not be processed. So after 2+ months of waiting around and sending emails, I never got any results, they never sent the complimentary kit, and they deleted my account with all the questionnaires I spent time filling out. Complete junk show.
*They did issue a refund for the original kit.
Hey Ben, Love your stuff. You’re my F-en hero. Question for you… Did Viome testing, just got the results. Everything looked really good. My macro recommendations look almost identical to yours. Primary differences being I weigh10 pounds less, have 10% higher body fat and am 10 plus years your senior. There recommendations for me (as I belive they were with you) were that 40% of my daily calorieintake should come from protein. Maybe I’m doing the math wrong but my normal protein intake is about 20%. Am I doing the math wrong or is that really what their suggesting I eat for pro? All my scores were all in the green.
Your thoughts?
Thank you. Be well. Thank you for all you do.
Buck
In my opinion, that protein intake might be slightly high. I'd start with 30% because you don't tend to get additional value exceeding 0.8g/lb.
Ben – Will Viome help my 4-year old autistic son? He is non-verbal, and I am desperate to help him. He currently sees a bio-medical doctor specializing in ASD, and has him on quite a few supplements. Will those supplements hinder the results of the Viome test? Thank you for bringing more clarity to the subject of gut health.
Hi Robin, thanks for your question! There is a strong link between autism and the microbiome. A study was recently published that showed that a microbiome transplant could decrease some symptoms of autism. Getting a baseline for your son would be helpful. However, please note that Viome is not a diagnostic service, and we do not diagnose or treat any condition.
Supplements may affect your son’s Viome results, and we typically recommend that customers stop taking supplements 1-2 days before completing the Gut Intelligence testing. However, it is completely up to you whether or not you’d prefer for him to keep taking the supplements.
Please email us at [email protected] if there is anything else we can assist with!
Another thought provoking episode! I’m hooked on Ben Greenfield. :) Already ordered my Viome kit!
Something that really caught my attention… Naveen mentioned something about probiotics and his idea about coating them in a fiber, so the bacteria can actually make it into the colon without getting destroyed along the way. Brilliant!
I found this product, made by NT Factors that combines prebiotics and probiotics into one pill. I wonder if this is similar to what he was talking about? It’s not coated or anything, looks like it’s just a mix, but thought you might be interested! Seems like something coated might be more effective, but curious to know your thoughts on this.
http://ntfactor.com/Products/Fiberdophilus.aspx
I placed an order and the Viome Kit arrived in less a week. I sent a question to the email support and in less than an hour on a Saturday I had the answer!! Looking forward to learning of the results.
Hi George, we’re happy to hear it! You can always contact us at [email protected] if you have any other questions.
Incredible episode. Naveen is so inspiring and brilliant.
1) any idea when Viome will be available in Canada?
2) Naveen is calling for everyone to contribute to a chronic disease AI I would love to, but how? I have Crohn’s and Ankylosing Spondylitis.
3) waiting for Viome in Canada, any cues on how to shut down (or what triggers) HLA-B27 gene (which seems to be linked to my autoimmune reaction)?
Best,
Jp
Unfortunately I don't know when it will be available internationally. Sign up here to be notified first when it becomes available: https://goo.gl/rqZzKF
Naveen's reply! "Every person who signs up for Viome or helps spread the word for people to sign up for Viome is not only the people who use Viome but also contributing to make Artificial engine smarter because of more people and more diversity.
HLA-B27 is an immune marker that is associated with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Basically, when the bacteria Klebsiella is seen by the immune system, it will bind to HLA-B27 and the immune system will form a response to it, that also cross reacts with the sacrum causing AS. We can see Klebsiella in the microbiome, and it is usually through leaky gut that it crosses the gut membrane and can cause a problem. We can’t shut down the HLA-B27 gene, but we can see if Klebsiella is present and make recommendations to prevent it from becoming a problem."
Hi JP, Viome will be available in Canada in the coming days! If you haven’t already, please sign up on our international mailing list here to receive updates: http://eepurl.com/cDzmOz.
Hi Ben
Can one do the testing only in the US? Super show interested in doing the test but living outside of the US?
Thanx for another great show
Yes, but will be available internationally too!
Indeed US only for now. Get on the list to find out when available internationally here: https://goo.gl/rqZzKF
What is the “Ultimate Anti-Anxiety Pill” that the title alludes to? I didn’t hear anything about it on the podcast.
Probiotics are an anti-anxiety pill!
Which ones are the best?
I love listening to your podcasts commuting to/from work. This one was amazing, best ever, Naveen’s energy and curiousity/approach to learning was infectious! Plus his approach to thinking outside the conventional box. it has lit a spark, thanks!
Thanks, Michelle – we agree!
Absolutely blown away by the incredible content of this podcast. This was a great find Ben and thanks for sharing. I’m not only excited to kick my gluten sensitivity but also wandering if Viome will help me regrow hair. I don’t think it’s to much to ask to feel great and look great as well.
The best podcast episode I’ve ever listened to!
Hi guys, great content. I listened to the podcast yesterday so it was soon after it was released. I tried going to purchase the service from Viome at voime.com\fitness and by following the link in the show notes but the price was not what Naveen talked about for listeners of the podcast. I filled out my information up to the payment area but there was no place to enter the word ‘fitness’ to get bumped to the front of the waitlist or get the price talked about for 2 kits. from what I could tell the price is $399 for one kit and I believe he said $595 for two kits in a year. Please let me know if the price talked about is still available. Thanks
Go to Viome.com/fitness and enter code "fitness" and you will be good to go with their latest pricing…which tends to fluctuate but with that code you will definitely get moved to the front of the line.
Whats the discount code for a private trip to the moon?
I am still not clear on how much control we really have over our microbiome. Can we really influence it (and therefore our health) or are we dealt what we got, and it’s going to inhabit us, largely unchanged, for life (based presumably on our personal genetics, geographic location, and diet)?
Do we know for sure that more bacteria is better, or could it be that some of us just don’t need as many?
Could this be a cause & effect error, like cholesterol? (cholesterol being the bodys’ response to heart disease not the cause of it).
Couldn’t a higher number of bacteria (or more diverse population) be an indication of a gut that is struggling rather than an optimal situation?
We can absolutely influence it. You will see this when I publish the results of my retesting with Viome. if you follow some of the links above you will find that there is a host of research on this. a higher number of bad bacteria is indeed certainly not beneficial, and a huge amount of good bacteria could indeed indicate overgrowth, so what we are looking for is balance. That is what this test helps you to achieve.
Dr. Robynne Chutkan has written extensively on gut health, some further reading by her may help you answer your Qs:
https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/robynn-chutkan https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/bloat-cure
Hi Ben,
Thanks for this revolutionary podcast episode. For myself and other college students that are living on a strict budget, do you think this should be a priority test to improve daily life and longevity?
What tests and supplements should be prioritized (biggest bang for the buck) for someone on a budget trying to optimize health and longevity?
Thank you for your time and contribution to the health and fitness community.
These are the gold standard lab tests you can use to determine exactly how you should be eating/supplementing and exercising:
A) Blood – Longevity or Wellness Complete panel at: https://greenfieldfitnesssystems.com/product-cate… – I recommend the Longevity one as it is the most comprehensive, although more expensive
B) Gut – Complete Gut testing at https://greenfieldfitnesssystems.com/product-cate… – the other option for this one that is new, but that I really like, is the Viome test obviously, where you can get moved to the front of the line automatically by going to https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/viome
C) Urine – DUTCH test for hormones at: https://greenfieldfitnesssystems.com/product-cate…
D) DNA – 23AndMe test for genetics at: https://greenfieldfitnesssystems.com/product/23an…
Let me know any and all questions you have!
Also, for even more details, I dive into these tests, and many others that are "optional" but quite useful in my article here on customizing your nutrition: https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/article/nutritio…
Here are some resources to help you get started:
https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/article/lifestyl…
This goes over essential ways to get more brain power, and a lot of them are free, and great for students!
https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/article/brain-ar…
Wow, thank you!! Great stuff!!
Naveen Jain mentioned Wheat Bran (specifically he mentioned Bob’s Red Mill variety) as something that specifically feeds akkermansia bacteria in your gut (yes, wheat bran contains gluten, so keep that in mind). Here’s the link to amazon.com store (couldn’t find it on iherb) :http://amzn.to/2fOT2w1
However, it may not be as simplistic as Jain mentions. For example, this study shows that oat bran (similar to wheat bran) had akkermansia increasing OR akkermansia decreasing effect on two different strains of genetically altered mice:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=oat+bra…
So, in short:
1. Try it for yourself (test your poop, or monitor your plasma cholesterol as a secondary measure)
2. Try oat bran (there are wheat-gluten free varieties), if you want to stay away from gluten and don’t want to play with wheat bran.
Just had to comment on the irony between Naveen and his neighbor… Gates has spent millions trying to kill the population and Naveen spends millions looking for ways to cure them.
I wonder if they’re friends…?
In my opinion. this is wacky stuff- Los Alamos – did Jain say something about precognitive software tied to your gut microbiome?
Viome is similar to the web services that help you find someone’s address but they’re really mining your data. Why did Jain just keep talking over Ben when he mentioned Silo? None of us want to be sick, but at what point does “living forever” become being a “dead human robot forever”? Have we lost all sense of morality or perspective?
I just saw Dr. Rhonda patrick post about Viome, good stuff as always Ben
Ben,
I am eager to sign up for this service. Have you seen any studies or noticed from personal experience with clients any trends in health and/or psychological well being connected to removal of appendix in youth. It seems like the possible connection between appendix and gut bacteria could make this topic relevant.
Thanks for all the great information.
Do a search right here on my website for appendicitis or for appendix because I have a whole podcast on the things that you can do to mitigate the damage.
Hi Ben, has the video screenshot of the results from your microbiome analysis been posted? aThanks.
Never mind, found it! (under the “What Is Viome?” link, for anyone else). Love the show by the way!
hey Ben!
I love your podcast and I listen to it as much as possible. I have a question about sjogren’s diease, I have a client who has it and struggles with keeping it in check. Do you have any suggested hacks for keeping inflammation down if you have this.
Thank you,
David
I am not a doctor and this is not to be taken, interpreted or construed as medical advice. Please talk with a licensed medical professional about this. These are just my own personal thoughts and not a prescription or a diagnosis or any form of health care whatsoever. However, I do have many ideas for inflammation, including high dose curcumin, fish oil, infrared sauna and cyrotherapy, an anti-inflammatory diet, etc. I'd be happy to help you via a personal one-on-one consult. Just go to https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/coaching. and then choose a 20, 30 or 60 minute consult, whichever you'd prefer. I can schedule ASAP after you get that.
I clicked on the Viome.com link and when I get there and try to sign up it tells me the affiliate link is invalid or expired….any input on this?
And BTW…I SO second you on doing that patented probiotic capsule idea you guys mentioned!! Do it!!…or I will…:~D
Hi Carrie, try again, it should be working now. Yeah, maybe I'll be following up on the patented probiotic capsule soon…… ;)
Ben,
I’m listening to Mr. Jain and I’m hooked. I’m a physician and this guy is spot on. I want to be involved at some level. Can you get my contact info to him so that I can do something to help advance his vision in solving our healthcare disaster.
Thanks and keep up the great work.
You da man!
Passed it along. Thanks!