InsideTracker Study Links Platform to Improved Blood Biomarkers
InsideTracker's peer-reviewed PLOS Digital Health study of 20,000 users found sustained improvements across 39 blood biomarkers, including LDL, HbA1c, glucose, vitamin D, hsCRP and testosterone, linked to use of its personalized platform.
InsideTracker has published a peer-reviewed study in PLOS Digital Health showing that use of its personalized digital health platform was associated with sustained improvements across 39 blood biomarkers, including LDL cholesterol, HbA1c, glucose, vitamin D, hsCRP and testosterone. The study analyzed data from 20,000 users and more than four years of platform use.
The platform provides personalized recommendations based on blood analysis, DNA, lifestyle and nutrition habits. Among users who started with suboptimal blood biomarker levels, the majority improved by their second blood draw, and many continued improving across subsequent tests. Initial gains in fasting glucose, cortisol, HbA1c, hsCRP and folate held over time, while triglycerides, vitamins B12 and D, iron, testosterone in males, and LDL and HDL cholesterol continued to improve after the second test.
The company's senior vice president of science and AI, one of the study's authors, said the findings caught her off guard. Biomarker profiles tend to worsen with age, she noted, and she expected the data to reflect that for all but a handful of biomarkers. “Surprise number one was actually that the vast majority of biomarkers improved over time,” she said. She also pointed to VO2 max, which was correlated retrospectively with all the measured biomarkers, and hypothesized that improving VO2 max could “tug a lot of biomarkers along with it.”
In a smaller subgroup of users with high baseline total cholesterol, those who improved their cholesterol increased their daily step count by an average of about 950 steps and showed higher REM sleep percentages than non-improvers. The study authors flag this finding as exploratory given the smaller sample size.
Supplements appeared to move some biomarkers fastest: vitamin D, B12 and folate were among the biomarkers users most frequently improved, in part because supplementation is an easier behavior to adopt than dietary or exercise change. LDL cholesterol, HbA1c and other cardiometabolic markers were harder to move. Genetics also played a role, as users with a higher polygenic risk score for high LDL or total cholesterol saw smaller improvements than users with lower genetic risk. “Some people just cannot ‘lifestyle’ their way out of high cholesterol,” the senior vice president said.