Oakland company wants your DNA to serve you better food
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A Bay Area company thinks your DNA should determine what you eat. It's launched a food delivery service to do just that with personalized meals based on your own genome.
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Inside a warehouse in Oakland's Jack London Square they are making delicious and nutritious food. The recipes are designed to complement your well-being.
"Each and every one of us is unique and different, and our food should be as unique and different and personalized as we are," said Neil Grimmer, the founder of Habit.
Habit is the world's first food delivery service that uses your d-n-a and other health markers to customize your diet plan.
"We look at the whole self from your DNA to your blood work to how your metabolism works, combine it with your goals and aspirations, around your food, and we put it all together into an algorithm and generate a personalized nutrition plan just for you," said Grimmer.
Grimmer worked with the renowned scientists responsible for sequencing the human genome to establish markers for improving health.
"The first test you are going to do which is a core measurement - just a tape measure around your waist," said Grimmer.
For $299, Habit sends you a kit to gather your data. It includes swabs for DNA, a finger prick for blood, followed by another test after a metabolic shake. Three weeks later you get your results, personal coaching, and meals made specifically for your DNA profile. The meals cost $8 to $13 each.
"So it allows us to really dial it in - breaking away from that one size fits all approach to a lot of the fad diets that are out there today," said Grimmer.
Grimmer knows food. He started Plum Organics, the nation's third largest baby food brand. He sold it to the Campbell Soup Company in 2013. Campbell's has also invested in habit.
Grimmer says obviously cutting down on sugar, managing alcohol intake and staying away from processed foods will improve your health. He says habit takes that a step further, helping you to fine-tune your diet.
Grimmer said, "When you go from there, then it gets really personalized, and actually all of us are pretty different in what we need."
The company introduced us to customer Thierry Attias says he's learned a lot about himself and his body from the in-depth testing.
"A tab. Boom! Touches your finger you barely even feel, it takes a little sample of a drop of blood," said Attais.
His DNA revealed sensitivity to caffeine, and showed he needed to add more vegetables to his diet.
"I don't have these certain obesity markers so I can't use that as an excuse - so it taught me a whole lot of little things about myself that I was curious about but I didn't know," said Attias.
Stuart Murray is with the eating disorders program at UCSF.
"You know I think it's a good idea in principal,? said Murray.
Said, Murray Habit may be on to something, but more research is needed.
"We know that if we eat better quality foods you're probably going to feel better, whether or not that is person specific, and whether you going to need rigorous DNA testing, to get that affect, we don't know," said Murray.
But that doesn't dissuade people like Attias from touting the benefits of the plan. He says he feels better and has lost a little weight since joining Habit.
Attias says, ?It gave me a perspective, and it kind of gave me the tools to make better decisions about how I eat, how I live, how I exercise.?
A result, he says, goes beyond just knowing more about his genetic make-up.
The company says it has taken extreme measures to protect the privacy of you DNA. You own it. They say you control what they do with it.
Written and Produced by Ken Miguel
