Gutfeeling Labs launches its “intestinal flora analysis for the people”

Several scientific studies have shown that intestinal flora can affect well-being. Now Lund company Gutfeeling Labs is launching an analysis service aimed at private individuals. It provides individualized information on both bacterial composition and on functions of the intestinal flora that could potentially promote well-being. In addition to the analysis results, information is also provided on how to positively impact the intestinal flora. Gutfeeling Labs is a company in SmiLe Incubator at Medicon Village in Lund, Sweden.

 

Gutfeeling Labs was founded by Walter Fischer and Hans Fischer, associate professors in neuroscience and immunology, respectively, at Lund University.

 

“We want to offer a financially reasonable intestinal flora analysis and provide information on diet and dietary supplements that can be useful for the public. We all have our individual intestinal flora and learning about it provides a starting point for possible change – a personal balancing of the intestinal flora,” says Hans Fischer.

 

The unique analysis service that they have developed, which is based on the latest research in the field, is soon to be launched, beginning in Sweden. Their concept is based on a combination of gene technology for identification of bacteria and the use of a database with information on the metabolism of the intestinal bacteria. The unique feature of this method is that it enables identification of the proportion of the total intestinal flora that can produce, for example, butyric acid, a substance that has been shown to have a stabilizing effect on the intestinal barrier and has potential anti-inflammatory properties. The proportion of the intestinal flora capable of breaking down dietary fiber can also be measured. This information is of interest because research has shown that increased breakdown of certain dietary fibers can decrease hunger and sugar cravings.

 

Hans Fischer has studied intestinal flora for about ten years and has shown that one particular type of colitis is linked to low levels of the Akkermansia bacterium that lives in the intestinal mucosa.

 

“That’s when I became interested in the possibility of using bacteria to promote the growth of bacteria like Akkermansia,” says Hans Fischer.

 

Walter Fischer, a neurosurgeon, became interested in intestinal flora in conjunction with research that he conducted on immunotherapy in patients with glioblastoma (brain cell cancer) that was published in the prestigious periodical Nature Communications in 2018. His study showed that brain tumors shrunk in some patients, but not in others.

 

“There are different theories on why the immune system does not attack cancer cells, but when a research group showed that the presence of the Akkermansia bacterium in the intestinal flora was linked to an increased treatment effect of immunotherapy in cancer, I became involved in my brother's work,” says Walter Fischer.

 

“Knowledge about the status of the intestinal flora provides a foundation to relate to, and based on information about diet and dietary supplements, an opportunity to promote growth of bacteria that produce health-promoting substances,” says Hans Fischer.

This concept is also being tested in a Swedish research study where people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes will be given dietary fiber. The hypothesis is that dietary fiber stimulates growth in certain intestinal bacteria and thereby production of butyric acid. Since butyric acid has been shown to strengthen the intestinal barrier, researchers hope to prevent the inflammation that is known to be linked to type 2 diabetes.

 

“It will be extremely exciting to follow this company, which, with the help of scientifically based knowledge within a dynamic and highly relevant field of research, wants to promote wellness,” says Ebba Fåhraeus, CEO of SmiLe Incubator.

 

For more information, please contact: info@gutfeelinglabs.se

Telephone: His Fischer +46 (0)708 541 868, Walter Fischer +46 (0)709 58 6001

Postal address: Gutfeeling Labs, Medicon Village, Scheelevägen 2, 223 81 Lund, Sweden

www.gutfeelinglabs.se

 

Gutfeeling Labs owners: Ebba Fischer, Walter Fischer, Hans Fischer

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