Vous Vitamin has partnered with Pops to bring attention to the role of vitamins in diabetes management. Vous said this is the first time a personalized vitamin offering has been integrated into such a condition management platform.
The platform is powered by Mina, a cellphone-based AI virtual health assistant that connects to Pops' Rebel glucometer via Bluetooth to monitor blood glucose.
Personalized vitamin info embedded in tool
As part of Pops' digital coaching system for people with diabetes, Mina will now ask questions about dietary supplement use and connect interested users to information about using vitamins to help manage blood sugar. Users will also be able to access Vous Vitamin's five-minute health and lifestyle survey for determining their single-tablet vitamin blend that matches their individual needs and receive discounts on their Vous Vitamin purchases.
Vous is led by two physicians who wanted to simplify the process for consumers by taking the guesswork out of vitamin selection.
Common goal
When they recognized the opportunity to integrate a personalized vitamin program into a diabetes care ecosystem, both companies agreed the partnership was a no-brainer.
"As an endocrinologist specializing in diabetes, I am always talking to my patients about how the right vitamin regimen can help improve symptoms from low energy to neuropathy," said Dr. Romy Block, co-founder of Vous Vitamins. "This relationship with Pops will make it possible to reach people in every zip code who can benefit from adding supplements to their diabetes management program, all by serving up information from the same digital tool they already use for diabetes support."
Data science + vitamins
“There are a variety of vitamins that can help play a role in blood sugar control along with lifestyle changes, medications, and proper diabetes management. There are studies that suggest that vitamins like vitamin D and biotin are important in this area. Many diabetes patients have skewed diets like vegan/vegetarian and other comorbid health conditions that are strongly related to personalized nutritional supplementation needs,” explained Brad Helfand, COO and co-owner of Vous Vitamin.
Vous offers all-in-one multivitamins by employing a process they call data science-meets-multivitamin design. Helfand explained that the presence of good data allows them to make bolder bets on how to target a multivitamin formula.
“We are able to streamline and curate which nutrients go into a formulation, and align the dosing profile around individualized needs,” said Helfand. “We tighten the range of nutrients in a multivitamin to contour to the profile of the individual, which creates room in the pill for more effective dosing levels that aligns with the leading clinical and scientific evidence.”
Integrative care
Helfand told us that partnership marks an important step toward integrating care management for the diabetes population.
“Nutrition is an essential part of the lifestyle equation for these patients, and food intake is only part of that equation, while nutritional supplements represent another critical part. The Pops Rebel Glucometer has broad adoption and carried with major retailers like Best Buy and now these users will have additional resources around vitamins at their fingertips through the virtual assistant, Mina. It is a compelling story about the convergence of medical technology, artificial intelligence, and personalized vitamin recommendations to create a holistic solution for the consumer.”
