Next Biosciences, a leading local biotech company, offers lifestyle genetic testing that aims to enable South Africans to take personal ownership of their future health.
The goal of these tests is to empower you to make choices that will lead to a healthier and happier life. By adopting a healthy lifestyle, utilising medical advancements, and prioritising preventative care, we can extend our healthspan and enjoy an enhanced period of vitality and wellness. Kim Hulett, Founder of Next Biosciences, questions what the point is of extending your lifespan and not taking into consideration your healthspan?
But what is healthspan, and how does it differ from lifespan?
A person’s lifespan is the total number of years they will live, whereas healthspan is for how many of those years they will remain healthy and free from disease.
Longevity encompasses a holistic approach to health, aiming to optimise physical, mental, and emotional well-being throughout a person’s lifespan to extend their healthspan. Most of us do not want to just live long - we want to live long well. We aspire to live healthy, vibrant lives until our last days.
Naveen Jain, founder and CEO of Viome Life Sciences, believes that “Longevity is for the common good. Being able to come up with personalised, precise recommendations of whatever [a] person needs - supplements and early diagnostics - it will be different for everyone. That, to me, is where the work needs to be headed.”
Viome Gut Microbiome Testing, which Next Biosciences distributes, is the first step on your longevity health journey, giving you insights into your gut health that can help you live a healthier life for longer by providing you with nutritional recommendations to help improve areas that need attention. “Without testing, it really is just navigating in the dark,” says Hulett.
Viome “focuses on detecting underlying causes and signs of harmful activity in each individual early on and translating these signals into actionable recommendations that provide meaningful improvements,” shares Jain.
By providing a snapshot of your gut health at a specific moment in time, Viome can help you to improve your overall health through personalised nutrition based on your biology.