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vivaLIFESTYLE

vivaLIFESTYLE

An assessment of how your biology is reflected in the way you live your life, what you eat and any health issues you may be experiencing.

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vivaLIFESTYLE is a deep dive into what scientists call your phenotype, or the observable characteristics that results from the interaction between your genes or "your biology" and the environment you live. The assessment takes in detailed information about:

  • Your metabolic health - are you in kilojoule deficit or excess, how is this reflected in your body?
  • Exercise patterns -  how often, how intense and for how long?
  • Sleep - how well you are sleeping, is it easy to sleep, do you feel fatigue?
  • Nutrition - do you capture enough micronutrients from dietary sources, what does your mix of fat, protein and carbs look like
  • Medication - are you taking any meds or supplements, why, and how long?

These factors are assessed against your biological markers to help identify possible lifestyle changes, including dietary so that you can Live Better, Longer!

Find out more about how vivaBALANCE works and the unique science behind our approach.

You can also read about the other tests in our assessment process: vivaBIOME and vivaMETABOLITE.

The science of longevity has been adopting a holistic and proactive view of health in order to prevent chronic disease, with integrative evaluation of health-related habits, including those associated with disease promotion and those related with general health and well-being1. Undertaking a review of current lifestyle habits, health status, and risk factors helps allows for an understanding of your overall health and well-being.  These factors are the outcomes of dietary and non-dietary inputs into your biological health, how they interact with you gut microbiome and ultimately how these enter and play a role in your body to improve or detract from good health.  


References:

  1. Salvador-Carulla L, Cano Sánchez A, Cabo-Soler J, De Teresa C. Longevidad: Tratado Integral Sobre Salud en la Segunda Mitad de la Vida. Ed Médica Panamericana. Madrid: Libro completo. Colección. Tratados de Medicina (2004).

Non-dietary lifestyle factor such as smoking and lack of exercise can significantly impact the large bowel (and potentially the microbiota). Smoking has a significant influence on gut microbiota composition, increasing Bacteroides-Prevotella in individuals with Crohn’s Disease (CD) and healthy individuals1. Smoking-induced changes in microbial populations could potentially contribute to increased risk of CD.

Stress, has an impact on colonic motor activity via the gut-brain axis which can alter gut microbiota profiles, including lower numbers of potentially beneficial Lactobacillus2. Stress may contribute to IBS, one of the most common functional bowel disorders, and the associated changes in microbial populations via the central nervous system (CNS). The gut-brain axis is bi-directional, involving both hormonal and neuronal pathways3, and so changes in the gut microbiota may influence brain activity, including mood4.

Exercise (or rather a lack of it) may be an important influence on any shifts in microbial populations that are associated with obesity. This is highlighted by a recent study that showed an increase in the diversity of gut microbial populations in professional athletes in response to exercise and the associated diet5. In humans and animal models with obesity, shifts in gut microbial populations occur, with increases in the Firmicutes and decreases in the Bacteroidetes, which could potentially contribute to adiposity through greater energy harvest6,7,8.

References:

  1. Benjamin J.L., Hedin C.R.H., Koutsoumpas A., Ng S.C., McCarthy N.E., Prescott N.J., Pessoa-Lopes P., Mathew C.G., Sanderson J., Hart A.L., et al. Smokers with active Crohn’s disease have a clinically relevant dysbiosis of the gastrointestinal microbiota. Inflamm. Bowel Dis. 2012;18:1092–1100. 
  2. Lutgendorff F., Akkermans L.M.A., Soderholm J.D. The role of microbiota and probiotics in stress-induced gastrointestinal damage. Curr. Mol. Med. 2008;8:282–298. doi: 10.2174/156652408784533779. 
  3. Grenham S., Clarke G., Cryan J.F., Dinan T.G. Brain-gut-microbe communication in health and disease. Front. Physiol. 2011;2:94. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2011.00094. 
  4. Clarke G., Grenham S., Scully P., Fitzgerald P., Moloney R.D., Shanahan F., Dinan T.G., Cryan J.F. The microbiome-gut-brain axis during early life regulates the hippocampal serotonergic system in a sex-dependent manner. Mol. Psychiatry. 2013;18:666–673. doi: 10.1038/mp.2012.77.
  5. Clarke S.F., Murphy E.F., O’Sullivan O., Lucy A.J., Humphreys M., Hogan A., Hayes P., O’Reilly M., Jeffery I.B., Wood-Martin R., et al. Exercise and associated dietary extremes impact on gut microbial diversity. Gut. 2014;63:1913–1920. 
  6. Ley R.E., Backhed F., Turnbaugh P., Lozupone C.A., Knight R.D., Gordon J.I. Obesity alters gut microbial ecology. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2005;102:11070–11075. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0504978102. 
  7. Ley R.E., Turnbaugh P.J., Klein S., Gordon J.I. Microbial ecology: human gut microbes associated with obesity. Nature. 2006;444:1022–1023. doi: 10.1038/4441022a. 
  8. Turnbaugh P.J., Ley R.E., Mahowald M.A., Magrini V., Mardis E.R., Gordon J.I. An obesity-associated gut microbiome with increased capacity for energy harvest. Nature. 2006;444:1027–1031. doi: 10.1038/nature05414.

A balanced diet is necessary for both good nutrition and health. Dietary lifestyle changes can primarily affect people by improving many parameters in one's health outcomes. A healthy diet has many advantages, such as enhancing mood, strengthening visceral organs' functions, and preventing various chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. 

People consume various nutrients in their diet daily, but often fail to emphasize their effects on health outcomes. A healthy diet entails choosing a more nutritious diet over those with large amounts of trans fats, added salt, and sugar.  Understanding how diet impacts your biological health - both microbiome and metabolic health is an important step toward potentially mitigating the onset of chronic diseases.