Prince or pauper, high-net-worth individual or homeless hobo, we all have at least one thing in common – the propensity to develop Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), a chronic digestive disorder that can cramp your lifestyle just as much as it can cramp your organs.
Its persistence, according to most eminent stoolologists, can be curtailed if you can excise the trigger foodstuffs from your diet. The problem – up until now – has been that the exact trigger varies from scoffer to scoffer, with every bunged-up bowel potentially irritated by something different.
The “up until now” in this instance comes courtesy of FoodMarble, a Dublin-based start-up, whose debut product – the FoodMarble Aire – literally sniffs out just what’s getting your tum into such an untimely tangle. It does this by logging the fluctuating levels of hydrogen in your exhalations.
Fitted into an eminently portable square package (with mouthpiece attached), the FoodMarble Aire has a companion app that tracks your readings instantaneously. All that’s required is inhaling for three seconds then exhaling into the device. What’s more, it is even said to track your sleep and stress levels as well, providing a more holistic way to track your body. The higher the level, the more indigestible your belly is finding whatever it is you are currently tucking into. It then goes one step further and identifies whatever it is your system is a little intolerant of – whether that’s lactose, sorbitol (a sugar substitute), wheat or something a tad more exotic. What’s more, the US$159 FoodMarble Aire provides instant readings and reports via its companion mobile phone app.