Why is it that food labels, designed to inform, often end up confusing us instead? And importantly, why does our team at ZBiotics choose to put “Proudly GMO” on our Pre-Alcohol bottles, especially in an era where there is a rush towards placing “non-GMO” on everything?
Food labels are intended to provide us with essential information about the nutritional content and ingredients in our food. But they’re often more confusing than helpful.
The confusion arises from two places: the lack of standardization within the food industry and the practice of companies interpreting terms as broadly as possible. Take "natural" for instance. The term remains loosely defined by regulatory agencies, leading to overuse by corporate marketing departments and misinterpretation by consumers. Similarly, labels like "cage-free" or "free-range" imply a certain level of animal welfare, but due to varying legal standards for these terms, that implied standard may not match with reality.
Consider this: a staggering percentage of consumers misinterpret "free-range" to mean that animals spend the majority of their time in bucolic, open pastures. However, the reality is often far less idyllic, with the legal requirements for such labels requiring minimal access to the outdoors. As an example, the USDA allows producers to use the term 'free-range' or 'free-roaming' as long as the animals have access to the outdoors, even if it's just for a short period of time each day (citation).
To navigate the maze of food labeling, it's crucial to understand what certain key terms mean and the standards behind them.
Here are just a few examples. Notice how broad the definition for each term can be, as well as the variability in how they are or not regulated. Altogether, it creates a lot of gray area within each one.
This can be especially revealing of the nutritional value of a food item. By law, ingredients are listed descending by weight (citation). Therefore, a product that lists “sugar” as its first ingredient but that labels itself as a health food, might be trying to mislead shoppers.
The food industry often uses certain terms to make consumers think a product is healthier or more sustainable, even though it is not. Take the term "gluten-free.” While this term is important as a disclaimer for folks with celiac disease, rampant use of the term – even when it is irrelevant – has created the impression that gluten is unhealthy. Products labeled "gluten-free" are therefore assumed to be healthier than similar products that contain gluten, even though consuming gluten is not inherently unhealthy to folks without celiac disease (citation).
Another example is how companies use the “Non-GMO” label to imply that products are healthier, even for products where no GMO alternative exists. Thousands of companies do this, with the non-GMO butterfly label on things like wheat flour, strawberries, and garbanzo beans, even though GMO wheat, strawberries, and garbanzo beans don’t exist. But two examples that especially demonstrate the point are non-GMO water and non-GMO salt.
To be clear: neither water nor salt is even capable of being genetically modified. They are not living organisms and thus have no genetic material or genes to modify. But companies like using the label to imply that these products are better for consumers.
The reason companies use “non-GMO” labels – even when they are not contextually relevant – is because they know that to many people, “GMO” carries a negative connotation around health. That connotation benefits those companies, who play up that fear to sell more products.
But as common as it is, the idea that GMOs carry some inherent health risk just isn’t true.
That idea has been debunked time and again – not just by scientific organizations like the World Health Organization and the United States Food and Drug Administration, but also by the global scientific community. There’s been plenty of ink spilled making that point, and we won’t do it justice here. But we will share two ideas we often find ourselves coming back to when it comes to GMO safety:
The upshot of these comparisons is the same: any new product – genetically engineered or not – must be individually evaluated for safety. But being genetically engineered doesn’t make something inherently unsafe.
Just like any tool, genetic engineering can be wielded carefully or recklessly. That is why we strongly advocate for the extensive scientific evaluation of the safety and labeling of all GMO products as a basic tenet of responsible use of genetic engineering.
Those following ZBiotics will notice that we do things a bit differently here, as we label every one of our bottles “Proudly GMO.” That’s because we care deeply about being transparent with customers about our use of genetic engineering. In addition, we believe that genetic engineering can do a lot of good for our planet, and we’re proud of our use of the technology to make better products.
That commitment goes beyond talking up our technology; it's about fostering a culture of informed decision-making among consumers. By advocating for clearer, more honest labeling practices and providing great products responsibly made with genetic engineering, we aim to empower individuals to make choices that align with their values and well-being. We’re proud that what we’ve built and the mission we are working towards are enhancing the daily lives of our customers.
]]>While most of the alcohol you drink is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream for processing by the liver, a small amount is actually broken down directly in the gut – in large part by your microbiome – before it is absorbed. Our pre-alcohol probiotic is designed specifically to target gut-derived acetaldehyde, the unwanted byproduct of alcohol that your gut cannot break down on its own and primarily causes negative effects the next day.
That function is normally sufficient to have a very meaningful impact, because gut-derived acetaldehyde is the largest source of acetaldehyde in the body for the vast majority of the population (citation). However, some individuals metabolize alcohol differently from others, due to differences in their biology. This can massively affect how alcohol makes them feel in ways Pre-Alcohol wasn’t built to address.
Just one example is the estimated 8% of people worldwide who have difficulty naturally breaking down acetaldehyde in their liver, the main location of ethanol metabolism. This is due to a genetic mutation that impairs their liver’s natural mechanism for metabolizing acetaldehyde (citation). For this population, the liver – not the gut – is the primary source of acetaldehyde build-up in the body. This can lead to particularly uncomfortable responses to alcohol consumption. And because Pre-Alcohol operates in the gut, not the liver, these are responses that won’t be helped by our product.
Another factor that can alter the experience of taking ZBiotics’ bioengineered probiotic is your gut-microbiome. Everyone’s gut-microbiome is unique and dynamic, constantly changing in response to diet, health, medications, and other environmental factors. The probiotic in Pre-Alcohol activates in the gut – normally without issue. However, if your microbiome's environment is in a particularly unique state, it may not support this activation. Such a case could be temporary or persistent, depending on the surrounding environmental factors affecting the gut.
The idiosyncrasies of the gut microbiome may also be behind the rare customer feedback we receive about an upset stomach or bout of bloating. In some individuals, drinking alcohol causes gastrointestinal discomfort, which is not related to the probiotic they consumed beforehand. But, especially for first-time probiotic users, there is always a chance that the introduction of a probiotic – even a transient one such as ours – may cause some gastrointestinal discomfort (citation). These feelings are generally rare and short-lived. However, for anyone experiencing longer term discomfort, it’s important to contact a healthcare professional and make sure there’s nothing serious going on.
The above factors are by no means an exhaustive list. There are many more that contribute to how our bodies tolerate and respond to alcohol. This relates to the emerging terms “personalized medicine” and “personalized nutrition,” which refer to approaches that tailor healthcare and diet to each person’s individual biology. That’s because we are increasingly learning that differences in our biology dictate how well our bodies respond to efforts to improve them.
We now know it’s not “one size fits all” when it comes to health and wellness. In the future, it’s possible our unique genetic makeup could be used to uniquely improve the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of a disease (citation). And, as mentioned, we all have unique microbiomes; even identical twins have distinct microbiomes (citation). The biological differences between each of us are many, and what works for one person may not work for another.
The fact that everyone’s own unique biology can be so different is one of the beautiful things about nature and evolution. It’s also one of the things that make it difficult to create products that are 100% effective for 100% of people. While we’re proud to have carefully and safely created genetically engineered products that are helpful to the overwhelming majority of folks, we know there’s going to be that ~5% of people out there who may not feel a benefit. So, we firmly stand behind our 100% money back guarantee policy. For anyone in that 5%, please reach out and we’ll make sure we provide a full refund. And whether our customers are satisfied or dissatisfied, we want people to join the conversation about health, science, and genetically engineered probiotics; and to get in touch with our team. We love hearing how people respond to our products – good and bad.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute for and should never be relied upon for professional medical advice.
]]>It’s been a huge year at ZBiotics! As we look back, we wanted to share some of the things we’re most proud of in 2023.
This year, we were excited to welcome seven new “ZBioneers” (what we call our team members). Every department grew, including Research & Development, Product Management, Customer Support, Marketing, and Operations. Each new person brought their unique skills, perspective, and personality to the team, and we’ve all been better for it.
We operate as a hybrid team, with folks spread out across the US. But we were able to come together for two memorable in-person offsites in Northern California, close to our lab headquarters. Witnessing the evolution of ZBiotics from two founders to a team of 20+ has been remarkable and makes us even more excited for the future.
But our growth journey in 2023 went beyond just the numbers. It also meant more opportunities to deepen our commitment to our core values. This past year, we’ve intensified our focus on the needs of our community. We launched a ZBiotics Volunteer Day, publicly renewed and augmented our commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and increased our charitable giving activity.
We’ve always had a vision for the company: to create a new category through genetically engineered probiotics – each enhancing daily life in an exciting new way.
This year, we took major steps toward that vision by putting in motion the launch of our next product. While we’re keeping it under wraps for now, our whole team is extremely excited to release this second product, and we will be announcing it soon. It’s going to be special.
But that’s not all. We’ve also accelerated development of our product pipeline: new engineered probiotics, each with their own unique purpose, deliberately engineered to be useful and powerful. We can’t wait to introduce them all to you.
The community surrounding ZBiotics has been the foundation of our success, going back to the very beginning. It's your stories and feedback that guide us, tell us when to change course, and ultimately help us build better products and serve you better. This year, we've seen incredible engagement and growth in our community. Here are some highlights:
A highlight of our work has always been when you’ve reached out to share how ZBiotics fits into your lives, whether for big occasions or intimate gatherings. Thank you for continuing to share your ZBiotics moments.
We were also thankful to have forged some great new partnerships this year. While not all-encompassing, some of our key collaborations included:
Everything we’ve accomplished, shared, and celebrated this past year makes us even more energized and excited about what lies ahead for ZBiotics. But in reflecting on the journey to date, the two of us continue to feel like we’re only at the beginning.
There’s a lot coming up in the year ahead with big, exciting changes for ZBiotics that we can’t wait to tell you about. Looking ahead, the future is bright!
Thank you for being part of our journey. Your trust and support mean the world to us. We promise to keep working tirelessly to maintain that trust and to continue making your mornings better.
Cheers to a healthy and prosperous 2024!
Zack Abbott and Stephen Lamb, on behalf of the ZBiotics Team
]]>During the holidays, and Giving Tuesday in particular, corporations advertising their donations can look disingenuous and self-serving. It's one reason we rarely post about our charitable work. Our value of integrity–doing the right thing, even when no one is watching–is another we live by.
This post is not an advertisement of our good deeds. Instead, it’s a chance to spotlight the amazing non-profit organizations we’ve worked with this year, as well as to recognize the impactful work our team has done in partnership with them. We hope you enjoy learning a little more about these great organizations, our team, our values, and how we spend our time.
ZBiotics team members are encouraged to take personal time year-round, including but not limited to volunteering opportunities. In April of this year, a few Chicagoland colleagues spent the day volunteering at the Aurora, IL location of Feed My Starving Children. Together with dozens of other volunteers, they packed over 22,000 nutrient-rich meals for children in food-insecure communities abroad.
Rob Ryan, our Marketing Operations Associate, said, “The biggest takeaway for me and the thing that impressed me the most was the organization’s efficiency with the goal of funneling as much of their funding into getting food in the hands of those that need it most.”
ZBiotics also held a company-wide Volunteer Day on October 6th, where our remote-first and distributed teams could coordinate opportunities where they live. Some of them even brought their families for more helping hands!
Teams at the SF-Marin Food Bank in San Francisco and The Bowery Mission in New York distributed groceries and refreshed food pantries. Our Chief Marketing Officer, Kat Townsend, said, “It was wonderful to be outside in the sunlight handing out super fresh, beautiful looking produce and exchanging words and smiles with so many different people!”
At Gaining Ground in Concord, MA, one of our future lead scientists helped his mother with sustainable farming in underserved communities.
Our coworkers were also cleaning up at the Idaho Humane Society (while rehoming animals) and Chicago’s ReStore (while rehoming furniture). We were all lucky enough to spend time with organizations that make a meaningful difference in everyday lives and our broader environment.
Part of the employee benefits at ZBiotics includes an individual charitable giving stipend that each team member uses at their discretion. While volunteering is a great way to participate in citizenship, financial contributions are always helpful and necessary for nonprofit organizations.
Candace Cui, our Director of Growth Marketing, chose Room to Read: “I’ve been donating to them for almost a decade in my personal life, because I love the work they do in educating women and girls, the way they’ve built programs across the world, and how much they emphasize the opportunities that learning can provide.”
Sometimes, stipends are used as direct response aid. Alicia Liew, our Customer Experience Associate, gave to the Hawaii Community Foundation: “Maui was recently hit by devastating wildfires that wreaked havoc on the beautiful island and the lives of its residents. This donation will be used to provide resources for immediate and long-term recovery needs."
The goal is always to utilize our resources to provide financial assistance in spaces that need as much support as possible.
Our Chief Executive Officer and co-founder, Zack Abbott, chose Meals on Wheels, “Because they provide an incredibly valuable service in bringing meals and safety check-ins to folks in our community who aren't able to leave the house, shop, and cook for themselves easily.”
Having volunteered there regularly, Stephen Lamb, our Chief Operating Officer and co-founder, donated to The Gubbio Project, which is “a San Francisco-based nonprofit dedicated to providing a safe place to sleep and rest for the city's unhoused people. Lack of sleep is one of the most critical health issues for the homeless.”
ZBiotics also engages in a larger charitable donation in coordination with Giving Tuesday, a special day in November after the post-Thanksgiving shopping rush that encourages people to set aside as much funding as they are able to for causes that matter to them.
In 2022, we donated to the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). This nationwide organization encourages more equity in STEM fields, a mission near and dear to our hearts. Encouraging more diversity in science and technology will benefit everybody, so we were proud to help AWIS reach their fundraising goals.
This year, we asked our customers where they’d like us to donate from a selection of nonprofit organizations we’ve partnered with in the past across causes such as nutrition equity, representation in the sciences, and economic empowerment.
The majority of ZBiotics customers chose GRID Alternatives as our Giving Tuesday organization.
In GRID’s own words:
Renewable energy can drive economic growth and environmental benefits in communities most impacted by underemployment, pollution, and climate change. GRID Alternatives is a national leader in making clean, affordable solar power and solar jobs accessible to underserved communities and communities of color, and our energy access work is powering off-grid communities across the globe. GRID’s vision: a successful transition to clean, renewable energy that includes everyone.
As the nation’s largest nonprofit solar installer, GRID develops and implements solar projects that serve low-income households and communities. Through our unique, people-first model, we are putting money back into families’ pockets, reducing the energy cost burden for housing providers, and jump-starting solar careers. We partner with affordable housing organizations, job training groups, government agencies, municipalities, utilities, and local communities to make solar a win for everyone. Since 2004, GRID has installed 89 megawatts of solar for over 29,000 income-qualified families across the country, providing an estimated total lifetime energy cost savings of $696 million, and over 33,000 people have received hands-on solar training experience.
We’ve donated $7,500 to GRID Alternatives this Giving Tuesday to help support their mission in building more renewable energy into underserved communities. Climate action is clearly critical to our community, including our customers and our team. Finding ways to reduce our impact on the environment is a key component of ZBiotics’ operations.
Of course, citizenship isn’t only important on Giving Tuesday or on a company-sponsored Volunteer Day. Citizenship also isn’t limited to activities at the corporate-level or the individual-level. What matters to the ZBiotics team is ultimately what led us to create a citizenship value: being a good citizen means we can positively impact our world.
If you have the opportunity to volunteer with any of the organizations we’ve mentioned above, we can’t recommend them enough! Additionally, any donations you are able to make this season or other seasons throughout the year can make a real, measurable impact on the important work they do.
We understand that it can seem tiring after the Black Friday/Cyber Monday frenzy for another business to ask you to use your money—but if you are interested in giving, we recommend using a resource like Charity Navigator to help you find nonprofits by the work they do, the communities they serve, and even detailed reporting on how they allocate funding.
]]>The microbial communities in our body and our surroundings can be both mutualistic (contributing to our health while benefiting from some of our resources) and commensal (benefiting from our resources without doing harm), so you’d probably call these “good” microbes. But an imbalance in their numbers and diversity can cause adverse health conditions.
At the same time, a bacteria commonly associated with disease can, when properly regulated in the body, actually provide benefits to our health. Even the genetic variants of the same microbial species can play very different roles in our body.
Achieving balance and maintaining integrity within our microbial ecosystem ensures that the microorganisms in our body act in our favor.
We (the scientists at ZBiotics) want to share five of the most common scenarios for how a microbe could transition between being pathogenic (“bad”) and mutualistic (“good”). They are:
Many microbes that we call “bad” are often an integral part of the human microbiome and remain harmless or even beneficial, as long as they are regulated by various other microorganisms. Even small shifts can potentially open the door for one microbe to outgrow the others. When the balance is disrupted, we are more likely to experience complications in the body.
Yeast infections are a prime example of that happening in the real world. As the common cause of fungal infections, species of Candida are considered undesirable microbes, but a large percentage of healthy people also have Candida in and on their bodies. Gut microbiome studies indicate that some species of Candida, such as Candida albicans, are commonly detected as mutualistic components in the healthy gut (citation), and play an essential role in mucosal immune response.
Other members of the gut microbiome regulate the levels of Candida to maintain a healthy balance of this microbe. So a disruption of bacteria in the gut can result in an overgrowth of Candida. This can lead to candidiasis, a fungal infection associated with vaginal yeast infections and oral thrush (citation). Antibiotic treatments and suppressed immune systems are common causes of such disruptions (citation).
Another example of an out-of-balance microbiome results in an infection called bacterial vaginosis. The presence of commensal bacteria is integral to vaginal health (citation). It has been established that a healthy vaginal microbiome has a high relative abundance of bacteria, dominated by species of Lactobacilli. A decrease in Lactobacilli, which are responsible for modulating the population of other species, can trigger an overgrowth of Gardnerella vaginalis which is detected in healthy individuals. The unbalance of G. vaginalis can lead to bacterial vaginosis despite not causing any disease pathology when the vaginal microbiome is in a healthy state. Products marketed towards feminine hygiene such as vaginal douches can sometimes cause a sharp decrease in the Lactobacilli that need to be balanced for a healthy microbiome.
The entrance of microbes into the body is also often correlated to disease onset, but here too are existing microbes in an appropriate balance that can prevent issues from arising. For example, through tissue isolation and RNA sequencing, researchers found the bacteria Prevotella, Veillonella, Streptococcus, and Pseudomonas in healthy lungs (citation). However, alterations in their composition can allow other bacteria, such as Haemophilus influenzae, to become abundant and exacerbate respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (citation).
Sometimes microbes end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. A microorganism that is normally commensal or beneficial in one area of the body (e.g. the skin) can occasionally make its way into another area in the body (e.g. the bladder or bloodstream), which might trigger an undesired immune response.
For example, Staphylococcus epidermidis is one of the most essential members of the skin microbiota. Its functions include the stimulation of the cutaneous immune response for wound healing and preventing colonization of the pathogenic species Staphylococcus aureus (citation). But it’s also a common cause of hospital-acquired infections. It can form biofilms on catheters and surgical implants, which then provides access to the bloodstream and induces inflammation, fever, and various other symptoms (citation) (citation).
Rather than being inherently a pathogen, Staphylococcus epidermidis is an example of the old saying that it’s all about location, or in this case: undesired localization. Microbes that serve specific functions do them in specific environments, and putting them in different environments can occasionally cause undesirable results. It’s like being a gardener who is happy to have a healthy population of bees in your flower garden but who knows that a sudden swarm of bees in your living room is not typically something you want to see.
The exact nature of a microorganism can vary amongst individuals, especially those with a compromised immune system. For instance, certain microbes may more readily bypass protective layers and exert pathogenic activity in immunocompromised individuals.
Bacteria that pass through the respiratory tract harmlessly can cause infection when they have the opportunity to take root in other parts of the body.In healthy individuals, the mucosal lining within their upper respiratory tracts is equipped to trap and degrade bacteria, such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, to prevent their colonization of the lower respiratory tract (citation). However, as the cited study shows, an unhealthy or compromised mucosal lining creates an opportunity for Streptococcus pneumoniae to travel to the lungs and colonize the air sacs, causing pneumonia.
That colonization of bacteria shifted what was a benign existence in our bodies to a damaging one. Understanding how microbes interact with those who have underlying conditions is a large focus of research right now. As we learn more about the immune system and the microbes that trigger immune responses, we can imagine a future in which immunocompromised people don’t have to worry about being exposed to microbes that may be completely harmless for someone else.
While microbes live in and on us, they are also all around us. Because of their indisputable roles in the human body, we contribute to the microbes in our environment. However, modern environmental disruptions have pressured some microbes to evolve into pathogens.
Bacteria in our water supplies can present both benefits and threats. Cyanobacteria, naturally found in freshwater, are often regarded as good bacteria due to their promoting effects on plant growth (citation) and potential as an alternative source of biofuel production (citation). But some species of Cyanobacteria produce toxins that can harm the freshwater ecosystem and cause illness in humans. Industrial activities and changes in water temperature due to global warming pave the way for cyanobacteria to bloom and accumulate cyanotoxins that are extremely dangerous to fish and humans consuming the fish (citation).
More effective collective solutions are necessary to control, prevent, and/or reverse ecological issues like this. Keeping our environment in good shape from the smallest microbe to the atmosphere protecting the Earth and everything in between benefits everyone.
Microbial species have many genetic variants, and we sometimes over-attribute pathogenic characteristics from one variant to the entirety of the species.
Escherichia coli is a common example. Despite its reputation as a pathogen that causes food poisoning, E. coli is an essential component of the human gut (citation). Many strains of E. coli aid in our digestion and protection against invaders. For example, a 2014 study of mouse models found that E. coli plays a key role in the establishment of epithelial integrity and ionic movement in the infant gut, contributing to an environment suitable for commensal bacteria immediately after birth (citation). On the other hand, certain E. coli strains, such as O157:H7, are detrimental to digestive health due to the toxins they produce, such as Shiga toxin, that harms the small intestine lining and causes foodborne diseases (citation). So, whether E. coli is “good” or “bad” depends on the relative abundance of its different strains in the gut (with respect to each other and other bacteria).
Despite its close association with acne, Cutibacterium acnes (formerly Propionibacterium acnes) is another bacteria that helps establish skin homeostasis and prevents colonization by other pathogens. Research suggests that it is not preponderance or overgrowth of C. acnes but which strains of C. acnes are present that is the ultimate driver of acne. Genome sequencing of healthy individuals and acne patients revealed genetic variations between the C. acnes strains despite having a similar overall population size, highlighting the importance of maintaining a balanced skin microbiome that favors commensal P. acnes strains over pathogenic ones (citation).
Despite being the same species, bacterial strains can evolve to possess different traits. Even when they are almost identical, small genetic variations can make all the difference in and on our bodies. We can avoid overgeneralization by specifying their role in our microbiomes and understanding the purpose of variation or diversity in our bodies.
The combination of modern life and popular science myths may lead us to categorize microbes as “good” or “bad”. So we tend to steer away from what we consider the “bad” while maximizing our exposure to the “good”. But as we’ve noted, the reality about microbes is more complicated.
Modern living encourages highly sterilized environments in an effort to protect from exposure to dirt and other common contaminants. Interestingly, studies show that children raised around animals and on farms have fewer allergies and inflammation throughout their lives, including a reduced risk of asthma due to exposure to a more diverse set of environmental microbes that helped shape their microbiome and immune system (citation). Similarly, children in cities with more contact with pets and insects had higher exposure to Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, which are associated with reduced risks of wheezing and onset of allergy later in life (citation).
While hygienic practices should be part of our daily routines, diversity in the various microorganisms within our environment can sometimes lead to fewer complications or even tangible benefits. We live with microbes in our bodies, on the surfaces we touch, in our food and alcohol production, and in every facet of our daily lives.
Lifestyle choices are a key component to balance in our various microbiomes. For example, we can look out for our gut microbiome by including a healthy diet high in diverse prebiotic fibers, hydration, regular sleep, and exercise and should avoid risk factors, such as aggressive antibiotic treatment and chronic stress (citation) (citation). For our skin microbiome, excessive and incorrect hygiene practices can impair the microbial balance and diversity. Avoid harsh antibiotic soaps and overly-aggressive washing that can strip our healthy skin microbiome, leaving room for intruders or unchecked outgrowth of microbes that result in unfavorable imbalance.
Regulating temperature and pH balance will help maintain microbial balance, especially in sensitive areas such as the vaginal microbiome. You should stick with breathable fabric such as cotton and regular changes of underwear to avoid disrupting the population of commensal bacteria. It’s also important to practice safe sex by taking the necessary precautions to prevent sexually transmitted infections and carefully choose products like lubricants that are free of petroleum and glycerin, which might severely disrupt vaginal pH.
Microbes such as yeast and bacteria are an integral part of our ecosystem and vital to survival, so we shouldn’t be at war with them. Even microorganisms closely associated with diseases are naturally found in our body and environment without disrupting our health and comfort. Harsh practices to get rid of them can disrupt this harmony and create room for opportunistic pathogens to take over. It’s about balance and diversity, led by a better understanding of their functions in our world. Expanding our knowledge and making use of the data is a big component of how scientists think and how ZBiotics wants to improve daily life.
]]>Here are some of the microbes and yeast you could encounter in everyday life:
Fans of kimchi, cheese, yogurt, sauerkraut, pickles, sourdough bread, and many other fermented foods have the Lactobacillales order of bacteria (lactic acid-producing bacteria; not to be confused with “Lactobacillus”, which is just one of many genera within the Lactobacillales order) to thank. This enormous order of bacteria – comprising dozens of genera and thousands of species – metabolizes carbohydrates into lactic acid. This acid, which gives fermented foods their signature tart flavor, prevents the growth of harmful bacteria that would otherwise cause food to spoil (citation).
The human body is host to a wide variety of Lactobacillales bacteria with differing functions, including but not limited to protecting the lining of the gut from damage, digesting carbohydrates, and preventing infection. They aren’t confined to the gut either. Lactobacillales bacteria comprise the vast majority of the vaginal microbiome, acidifying the vaginal canal and protecting it from unwanted colonization by pathogens (citation).
Used in chocolate and coffee production, the true star product of acetic acid bacteria is vinegar. Composed of 10 specific genera within a larger bacterial family, the acetic acid bacteria convert sugar and/or alcohol into acetic acid. This is the ingredient that gives vinegars as well as kombuchas, water kefirs, and lambic beers their sour flavor (citation). While they do not populate the human gut, their acetic acid byproduct is excellent at preventing the growth of harmful bacteria, making them incredibly useful for food preservation in the form of pickling. They are present, however, in the guts of an animal typically close to fermenting foods: the fruit fly (citation).
Bifidobacteria are lactic acid producing bacteria (though not part of the Lactobacillales order) and are often added to dairy products like kefir and yogurt (citation). It also can be a valuable member of the human microbiome, due in part to its ability to ferment prebiotic fiber into short-chain fatty acids, which are beneficial for gut health and nutrient absorption (citation).
Bifidobacteria prevent overgrowth of harmful bacteria, help to modulate immune responses in the gut, and assist in the production of vitamins and nutrients from otherwise non-bioactive substances (see previous citation).
Bacteria are not the only microorganisms we interact with regularly. Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the Candida genus are two groups of yeasts that are crucial to the food system.
The millions of people who took up baking during the pandemic will be familiar with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Familiarly known as baker’s yeast or brewer’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has two main functions in food production: leavening bread and fermenting beer and wine. It converts sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide, creating the bubbles that cause bread to rise. This also transforms grains and fruits into beer, cider, and wine (citation). Saccharomyces cerevisiae has also recently grown in popularity in the form of nutritional yeast, a protein- and vitamin B12-rich supplement created by washing, pasteurizing, and drying yeast that has been left to ferment cane and beet molasses. This product, however, does not contain any living microbes.
Several species within the Candida genus are used to ferment foods, most notably cheese. Various strains of Candida yeasts are used in the making of cotija, Fontina, pecorino, Camembert, brie, Taleggio and many other artisanal cheeses (citation).
While these yeasts are generally benign and normal constituents of our microbiomes, as with many of the microbes in our bodies, they can become opportunistic pathogens when out of balance with the rest of the microbiome. Candida overgrowth in particular can be harmful, especially as a vaginal infection; 75% of women of childbearing age are affected at some point by vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) (citation). Interestingly though, there is some data to suggest that Saccharomyces cerevisiae could possibly be helpful in resolving VVC (citation).
A species from a genus used in foods like natto, chocolate, and kombucha, Bacillus subtilis is found abundantly in healthy soil (citation). Bacillus subtilis co-evolved alongside the human digestive tract and can help in the body’s defense against parasites and other infections (e.g. citation).
B. subtilis is also the bacteria we use in our products at ZBiotics. There are many aspects of B. subtilis that make it an ideal bacteria for us to work with: it’s one of the safest and most common microbes we encounter in our daily lives; it is easy to grow and work with; it’s great at producing enzymes and performing useful biological functions that can have a positive impact on our health; and it’s a spore-former. This last part in particular is especially valuable. B. subtilis can go into a dormant, shell-like spore that allows it to tolerate harsh conditions like extreme heat, pH and other things that would be lethal to many cells. This enables it to pass safely through our stomach acid unharmed and make it into our intestines ready for action. But it is also naturally evolved to pass through our intestines without taking up residence. This makes it perfect for the creation of our genetically engineered probiotic drink, able to perform specific beneficial functions without disrupting the rest of your gut microbiome.
There is an intricate relationship between the microbial world and our everyday lives. Whether they’re giving yogurt its tang, helping our favorite bread to rise, or making sure our immune system functions properly, these common microbes are integral to sustaining both our food system and also our general wellbeing. While focusing on maintaining a healthy gut microbiome is a more recent lens for wellness for many people, luckily, most of the core tenets of good living still apply. Getting lots of good rest, staying active, and eating a wide variety of fresh, diverse, and minimally processed foods helps to ensure that these everyday microbes can do their job effectively.
]]>The human body is an incredible machine, and your gut is a complex system.You could spend a lifetime trying to understand that complexity (and indeed, some scientists dedicate their lives to it!), but what are the key takeaways for everyday life?
When it comes to improving gut health, the key is microbial diversity. This is the variety of microbes that make up your gut microbiome. To simplify, we generally want our gut microbiome to have more diversity. There are a number of ways to do that.
Here are a few quick tips to improving or boosting a healthy microbiome:
We’ve previously discussed how modern foods don’t always help us to live a healthy lifestyle. This is also true for the microbes that live in your gut.
The different microbial species that populate your microbiome require energy to do their metabolic work. But each gets energy from different types of food. Having a diverse range of food – a variety of complex carbohydrates, dietary fibers, and resistant starches – will feed a greater diversity of microbes, resulting in a healthier and more robust gut microbiome.
When you primarily eat foods high in simple sugars or fats (which tend to be over-represented on the shelves of our grocery stores), you reduce microbial diversity in the gut, which can do harm to your microbiome and cause metabolic disorders (citation). By keeping these types of food in moderation and replacing them with more gut-friendly foods, you set your gut flora up for success.
One important dietary component that can strengthen your gut is fiber. Fiber is critical food for microbes And, frankly, most of us don’t get enough fiber in our normal diet.
But not all fiber is created equal.
There are many different types of fiber, some rarer than others. You can find different types of fiber in many fruits, vegetables, and fiber supplements. And your best bet is to eat a diversity of fibers to feed a diverse microbiome.
In our previous post about maintaining a healthy microbiome, we assembled a chart of various dietary fibers and resistant starches you can obtain from common foods.
What’s most important about this chart is that it shows you a range of what’s available. Once again, getting a diverse mix of these foods in your diet will help to ensure that you are feeding a vibrant and productive microbiome.
It’s also important to maximize the amount of fiber you get from whole foods and limit the amount of fiber you get from supplements and fiber-fortified foods. Fiber supplements and fiber-fortified foods often contain mass-produced, low-quality fibers that have relatively limited benefit. In addition, they deliver fiber as a single large bolus, from which your microbiome is not equipped to get maximal benefit. While some fiber supplementation can be helpful, the goal should be to get most of your fiber from foods like the ones listed in the chart above.
Exercise isn’t just about building up your muscles or losing weight.
As mentioned, the human body is a machine. That machine functions best when it’s in motion. A sedentary lifestyle can have negative effects on any number of body parts, including the processes that affect our metabolic health (citation). Exercise fosters metabolic activity. Perhaps surprisingly, when your body’s own metabolic activity improves, your microbiome improves as well. Exercise causes our microbiota to become more diverse, more numerous, and more resilient (citation).
Whether exercise looks like a gym routine or a daily walk with your dog, moving your body (even just 20 minutes every day) directly fosters a good microbiome, and a healthier body and mind overall.
Stress can also negatively impact the health of your microbiome.
Stress generates chemical signals that run all throughout your body, causing disruption and dysregulation, even in your gut (citation). You’ve probably experienced bouts of anxiety or stress that led to physical sensations like a headache or faster heart rate. Your gut microbiota are also aware of environmental stressors, and they react accordingly.
So take the time to give yourself a break. Get enough sleep. And take care of yourself when you face anxiety, depression, or other stressors. Your microbiome will thank you.
Many people decide to add a supplement to their daily routine in order to boost gut health. When you do, be mindful. Though they sound alike, there are key differences between prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics that should influence how you use them.
These three types of “-biotics” serve different functions and it can also be hard to gauge their effectiveness to you as an individual. All of our guts are different, so different probiotics may not be right for all of us. Most prebiotics, on the other hand, are different forms of fiber, and we already discussed above that a diversity of fiber is important to microbiome diversity.
If you are considering probiotics, think too about what job you’re asking them to do. It’s important to note that most probiotics on the market (e.g. Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, etc.) are just repurposed leftovers of the food and dairy industry, and not specifically targeted for human health. If it’s gut health you’re after, consider whether a small amount of prebiotics might be more effective. Think twice, do your research, and remember that the goal is microbial diversity.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a more tailored job to be done beyond gut health, consider an engineered probiotic. Engineered probiotics are created to perform specific beneficial functions. You’ve probably heard about ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol Probiotic, but the technology behind bioengineered probiotics can be utilized to solve a number of common problems in the future.
The journey to a healthy gut doesn't have to be complicated. By diversifying your diet, incorporating more fiber, staying active, and reducing stress, you create a strong foundation for gut health.
Remember, the goal is microbial diversity. A more diverse microbial ecosystem is a healthier and more resilient ecosystem. They may be small, but the microbes in our gut play an outsized role in our overall health. Embrace a few simple strategies for your gut, and let the powerful connection between your gut and overall well-being do the rest.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute for and should never be relied upon for professional medical advice.
]]>Welcome to Part 2 of our two-part blog post on the future of genetically engineered probiotics.
When we think about engineered probiotics, we think about how they can improve everyday life.
Modern living creates a host of challenges. And evolution didn’t prepare our bodies to handle them. But genetically engineered probiotics may be able to help.
Here are just a few ideas for how they could do that.
One of the most important parts of healthy living is nutrition. Beyond the obvious pleasure of eating and drinking, everything we ingest has an impact on our body’s underlying performance. However, plenty of things can go awry in the context of modern life.
Poor absorption of vitamins and minerals from food can make even the most intentional and personalized diets less impactful. This can look like provitamins not being converted into vitamins by our normal metabolic processes. Or it could be that our bodies don’t properly absorb certain minerals, such as nonheme iron (citation). In both cases, our bodies aren’t receiving the full benefit of the essential nutrients they need to function.
Beyond vitamin and mineral intake, the average modern diet does not always support a healthy gut. The human microbiome is a big topic that is still being explored, but many signs point to diverse fiber intake as a massively under-appreciated component of maintaining a healthy gut microbiome.
But getting more fiber into our diets is easier said than done. Fiber-fortified foods (e.g. high fiber cereals and snack bars) and fiber supplements can cause gastrointestinal upset like bloating and gas, due to the difficulties our bodies have when trying to digest large amounts of fiber at once. And just getting one type of highly processed fiber doesn’t necessarily create a healthy and diverse microbiome.
Finally, many of the ingredients in modern food are optimized for taste and in-the-moment satisfaction, rather than health. This creates all sorts of issues. Just one example is cholesterol – specifically LDL cholesterol – which in excessive quantities puts people at higher risk of heart disease (citation).
While challenging, there’s reason to believe that each of these issues could be helped or fixed using genetically engineered probiotics.
We already know that the microbes in our gut help create and absorb nutrients from our diet. What if we could super-charge them to do even more?
Good microbes – like the safe bacteria used in probiotics – could be genetically engineered to increase rates of nutrient absorption, to create microbiome-supporting fiber, or even to break down cholesterol. This could be done in a way that’s similar to how our first product breaks down acetaldehyde.
This would give us more nutrition from the foods we already eat. And – as our bodies get healthier and we start to feel better as a result – it would open the door to better living.
Plenty of stressors in daily life make us feel worse on a regular basis.
Take exercise. We’ve all experienced being sore after a workout. But sometimes that post-workout burn doesn’t go away, and when it lingers for days it can throw us off our routine. When that happens, life has a tendency to get a bit harder, less consistent, and more stressful.
Exercise recovery issues come from systemic inflammation, which itself is caused by reactive oxygen species and the build-up of free radicals. Inflammation not only strains our recovery, it also slows muscle building (citation). And currently, there is no dependable solution to get back on track – other than rest. This can be frustrating, especially when you’re trying to stick to a schedule, build a habit, or depend on seeing visible progress to stay motivated.
Other stressors are environmental. Our skin, for example, is bombarded by things from the outside world that create issues. UV radiation, temperature, air pollutants, smoking, and diet all can stimulate inflammatory molecules that weaken the structure of our skin and leave us more exposed to the perils of skin damage (citation).
Modern life also presents new challenges that often go unnoticed. Just one example is our water. Heavy metals – which can be present in our drinking water or can bioaccumulate in the seafood we eat – are poisonous and have long-term effects on our bodies (citation).
Like the issues with our food, genetically engineered probiotics hold promise for addressing these stressors as well.
We could engineer probiotics to express enzymes that reduce or even eliminate inflammatory molecules. Less inflammation would mean faster recovery times and reduced strain on our bodies after working out.
And what if an engineered probiotic could secrete molecules to protect our skin from UV damage – like a natural “all day sunscreen”? Or prevent heavy metals from being absorbed by our bodies, allowing them to pass through our system without harming us?
All of this could be possible with this new technology. The reality is that even the most common daily activities – like going outside or grabbing a cup of water – sometimes have unintended consequences. Luckily, science continues to unveil new ideas and discoveries with the potential to make life better. Genetically engineered probiotics is one such idea – one with loads of promise.
While genetically engineered probiotics hold promise for everyone (we all eat, move, and interact in the world) their promise could be more fundamental for some.
Sadly, many people around the world still struggle to have their basic human needs met. For example, billions of people don’t have access to safely managed drinking water (citation). The water they have available contains parasites, unsafe bacteria, and other contaminants that are seriously harmful, especially when ingested over long periods of time. While great humanitarian efforts to provide safe drinking water exist, there’s still a need for alternative solutions.
One such alternative could be a genetically engineered probiotic. For those who cannot regularly access clean water, a probiotic engineered to prevent parasites from taking root in the gut could be extremely helpful. Engineered probiotics could help where other solutions can’t, because they have traits that make them unique in the world of global health equity: the ability to be cheaply produced, the power of enzymatic activity, ease of administration, and hardiness in extreme environments. And drinking water is just one idea.
One could wonder why we at ZBiotics are so open about our thoughts and ideas. If this technology is so powerful, wouldn’t we want to hide our ideas so we could derive the maximum value from each?
In reality, we see this as a bigger opportunity that we don’t need to hoard to ourselves. There’s plenty of room for many to innovate in this space. And while we are a for-profit company, we care about the development of genetically engineered probiotics as an idea. We care about it reaching its full potential as a product ecosystem. And like all great ecosystems, this one will benefit from a diversity of perspectives and approaches. The only thing we truly care about is that others approach it the right way: ethically, transparently, and sustainably.
Our pre-alcohol product may have been the first genetically engineered probiotic to come to market, but it won’t be the last.
That’s a good thing. We are proud to be part of a scientific community that cares about using genetic engineering in ways that are responsible and positive for the world. We envision a future in which this technology improves our health, gives people more freedom in their daily activities, and makes life better. The more people invested in that vision, the better.
In the meantime, the ZBiotics team remains hard at work. We look forward to showing you what’s next.
]]>The ZBiotics mission is to create genetically engineered probiotics that improve everyday life. We started with our pre-alcohol probiotic drink, but that’s not where the story ends.
Bioengineering holds the promise to enhance the human experience in countless ways. In the last 10 years, we have been able to make unprecedented advances in applying bioengineering to our daily lives, thanks to better and better tools for inexpensive DNA sequencing, high-quality and low-cost DNA synthesis, and incredibly precise gene editing.
Using these tools, we were able to launch genetically engineered probiotics to the world. And moving forward, our team is always thinking about the world of possibilities we can make real thanks to bioengineering technology. What problems can we potentially solve? How can we best use genetic engineering to create future products? And what impact will it have on our lives?
We explore these questions in this two-part blog post.
What about genetically engineered probiotics is so exciting? As an enabling technology, there are a few key things that set them apart.
Genetic engineering is so compelling because it unlocks the power of enzymes. Enzymes are proteins, but they are more than just the macros in your diet. These proteins are functional. They perform actions at the molecular level. And they are some of the most powerful molecules on the planet, responsible for facilitating many of the most important functions for all life to happen.
Enzymatic actions include breaking things down, building things up, transforming certain molecules into other ones, and doing it all quickly and efficiently – very quickly and efficiently. Enzymes can make biochemical reactions happen thousands of times faster than they would happen on their own, which is particularly important if your body is trying to get rid of something toxic or to build something important for healthy function.
Genetically engineered probiotics unlock the power of enzymes for everyday use.
By changing a probiotic bacteria’s DNA, we can program it to produce whatever enzyme we choose. This gives it a novel function that’s powerful, unique, and above all useful.
We can augment its DNA even further. Not only does our probiotic now produce our chosen enzyme, but it produces a lot of it, all the time. This ensures it’s highly functional when and where it’s needed.
All of this is totally different from un-engineered probiotics.
Un-engineered probiotics are found in the wild (or more often, as incidental byproducts of the dairy industry), isolated, and then sold unchanged. If we tried to find the equivalent of a well-engineered probiotic in the wild, it would be difficult. It also likely wouldn’t perform its function well enough or consistently enough to make a difference and potentially wouldn’t be safe to consume.
Another key benefit of genetically engineered probiotics is safety.
By choosing to build on the safe and well-understood platform of probiotics, we ensure a certain base level of safety from the outset. Then we make sure whatever is being engineered into the probiotic is safe as well.
We are building on technology that has been understood and deemed safe for decades. And in contrast to human genome engineering, the DNA that’s being changed is that of a microbe – not a human cell.
This has a slew of safety benefits over engineering human cells, not the least of which is that it’s temporary. Engineered probiotics can be added to your body temporarily, for 18-24 hours before you pass them out. That’s enough to give you a quick stint of powerful functionality, but without risking long-term changes to your microbiome.*
In contrast to un-engineered probiotics or even other forms of genetic engineering, the adaptability of genetically engineered probiotics is astounding.
We have a universe of genes to work with, and each gene represents a new biological function that we can harness. If you desire a specific function/enzyme, it’s just a matter of finding the gene for it – in nature and in the scientific literature – and programming it into our probiotic.
But it’s not just about genes. Choosing the probiotic chassis we’re engineering creates a world of possibilities itself. Each “base strain” (the un-engineered strain we start with) already comes preloaded with a set of traits that it developed over billions of years of evolution. These traits are powerful and useful: environmental resilience, long-term stability, room-temperature shelf life, safety, and more.
Each probiotic species has a different set. By engineering a particular base to have a particular function, we get a highly tuned ingredient more powerful and specific to our needs than any un-engineered probiotic we could ever find.
But what can they actually do for us?
How might genetically engineered probiotics change our lives for the better?
Keep reading to find out. Continue to Part 2…
]]>Since ZBiotics launched in 2019, we’ve been asking our happiest customers the same question. What is it about ZBiotics that keeps them coming back?
We’ve noticed something interesting in their responses.
Over 90% of the time, it’s not about how ZBiotics makes them feel the day after drinking alcohol. Instead, it’s about what ZBiotics helps them do. And more often than not, what ZBiotics helps them do is to get up and move.
Maybe it’s a regular workout class. A morning yoga session on the beach. Or a favorite run through the park. Whatever form it takes, people consistently tell us that they feel their best the day after drinking when they are able to exercise.
The feedback has been so consistent, that we feel confident saying that if you can work out in the morning after drinking – and if you can do so safely – you’re likely better off for it.
But why? What makes exercising the morning after a night out so rewarding? And how can you do it responsibly, without putting your health at risk?
Let’s dive in.
It's easy to say, “I had a few drinks last night; I'll skip my workout today.” But if there’s one area of life where consistency is key, it’s exercise.
Working out is a long-term habit that’s built over time. While it’s difficult to build the habit, it’s all too easy to lose.
Taking a quick break may not sound like a big deal, but it’s worth thinking about whether you’re the type of person who needs pretty rigid consistency to keep up with a routine. For many of us, one missed day quickly cascades into a missed week or month that’s difficult to recover from.
In that situation, even a quick workout the day after drinking can help preserve momentum. This momentum is critical to the long-term health benefits we know to be true of exercise: fewer chronic diseases, enhanced cognitive function, reduced stress, and more (citation).
Alcohol, despite its initial euphoric effects, is a depressant – one that can leave you feeling down, groggy, and sluggish the next day (citation). Exercise can provide a much-needed mood and energy boost.
Exercise isn't just about physical strength or long-term health. It also plays a pivotal role in our mental health and emotional wellbeing. Individual bouts of exercise enhance our mood, decrease our stress, and even improve our executive function (citation, citation).
These all help counterbalance the emotional effects of alcohol, helping alleviate the “blues” that often come after a night of drinking.
The biochemical effects of alcohol are strong. So even if you have a great night out – one filled with laughter, friends, and family where you drank responsibly – you might be left with feelings of anxiety, regret, or guilt the next day. These insidious feelings can make you feel worse about yourself if you’re not mindful of them. But exercise provides a solution.
Exercising can act as a reset button, allowing us to regain control and reaffirm our commitment to living a balanced, healthy life.
By choosing to exercise, we send a positive message to ourselves. We’re saying, "Yes, I had a drink last night, but I also value my health and put in the work to maintain it.” This self-affirming action can significantly boost our self-esteem and contribute to a healthier self-image. It's a reminder that our identities are not defined by a single action or decision, but by the overall effort we put into leading a healthy life.
This might sound like we’re veering into health psychology. But there is a growing body of research pointing to the positive effects of exercise on anxiety, stress, and depression (citation).
If you decide to exercise the day after you drink, there are a few things to keep in mind.
So listen to your body. Between grogginess, possible brain fog, and less-than-normal coordination, your body may not be ready for your regular routine and now’s not the time to put more stress on it. Consider lowering your workout’s intensity, easing into it, and giving your body time to acclimate.
If you feel like you’re getting close to overdoing it, stop. You’ve already done what you came to do. Take the win and go enjoy the rest of your day. But if the exercise is feeling good, then feel free to go for it!
When used responsibly, alcohol is a fun way to enhance some of life’s greatest moments, whether it’s a champagne toast at a wedding or a cold beer at a game. But we know that alcohol isn’t great for our bodies and minds.
Living in the modern world means acknowledging both of these facts.
Nobody is better at that than ZBiotics’ customers, who are some of the most well-adjusted, self-aware people we’ve ever met. They understand that you can enjoy alcohol while also living a healthy life. They also know that doing so doesn’t just happen.
It takes deliberate effort. And they know that exercising the day after drinking can help.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute for and should never be relied upon for professional medical advice.
]]>We live in an age of unprecedented abundance, where once-scarce resources are now everywhere.
In much of the world, food and drink are exceedingly plentiful. Interpersonal communication has gone from close-knit families to worldwide social networks. We now get vastly more light in 24 hours than ever before. And as lifespans go up, even time itself has increased.
While such abundance is beneficial, it also creates problems for our bodies and minds, which haven’t had time to catch up.
Overstimulated reward systems. Disrupted circadian rhythms. Undermined social connections. Many of the modern conveniences and artifacts of human progress can negatively impact our well-being. We encounter these issues every day, often without thinking about them. But whether we choose to acknowledge them or not, they do impact us.
While we can’t accelerate human evolution (yet), we can help ourselves out.
Every year new scientific research reveals more about the impact of modern life on our well-being. And every year we learn a bit more about how to prevent and modulate those effects.
We’ve compiled a few of the more common of these effects – the modern lifestyle that impacts our health and well-being on a daily basis. We look at what humanity evolved to handle, where things broke down along the way, and what can be done to help ourselves out.
In summary, these experiences are:
Our ability to break down alcohol developed long before we started making beer and wine.
For our primate ancestors, the primary source of ethanol– what we commonly refer to as alcohol – came from fruits. As they were trying to adapt to a terrestrial lifestyle, it was the rotting fruits falling from trees that kept them full when food was scarce on the ground. Because these fruits were undergoing fermentation, they contained small yet meaningful quantities of ethanol. Our ancestors had to develop the ability to break down that ethanol more efficiently, which they did as a result of evolution.
A 2014 study (citation) tested this theory by measuring the ethanol metabolism rates of older and older versions of a common alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme (ADH4) from primate ancestors along a 70 million-year timeline. And indeed, a genetic mutation 10 million years ago conferred on our ancestors the ability to process ethanol particularly efficiently.
Fast forward to the present day, and even one glass of beer or wine has far more ethanol than the rotting fruit our primate ancestors were eating off the ground. This creates a problem. We evolved the ability to metabolize small amounts of ethanol, but the excess ethanol of human-made beverages creates a burden our bodies are not equipped to deal with.
This in part explains why alcohol – along with its metabolic byproduct acetaldehyde – can be so harmful to our bodies. Alcohol was a relatively uncommon toxin until just a few thousand years ago. Now we drink it regularly.
Despite our bodies’ lack of preparedness, drinking alcohol has become a critical element of human social life. For many people, it fosters our ability to connect with others and remains an essential part of our cultural traditions. So how do we adapt?
The primary answer isn’t surprising: it’s moderation. Striking a balance between social enjoyment and bodily impact requires regulating alcohol consumption to levels that are consistent with healthy living given your own personal situation. That takes deliberate – and sometimes difficult – effort. It may mean not drinking at all. The CDC’s guideline on moderate drinking is a great place to start to learn more.
In addition to moderation, mindful drinking tips like stopping drinking earlier and consuming food with alcohol can help as well. The more we learn about alcohol and its effects on our bodies, the better prepared we are to handle it. And the science is not stagnant in this area. Novel alcohol research continues to this day (citation), with more to come.
Have you ever felt the urge to peek into your fridge before bedtime for leftovers? You’re not alone. The activity in your brain that creates craving and snacking behavior is innate – having evolved many thousands of years ago to meet the needs of the time.
Under immense pressure to forage for food while trying to evade predators, our early ancestors evolved to crave high-fat foods. They didn’t know when the next meal was coming, and fatty foods would have been beneficial for them to store energy in times of danger and scarcity. Their brains evolved to reward seeking those types of high-fat foods.
Today, we can see how those evolutionary patterns persist. Researchers have shown how high-fat and high-sugar foods can trigger cravings and snacking due to the effect they induce on dopamine, the neuromodulator responsible for making us seek more. A 2020 study published in the journal Current Biology demonstrated this by feeding high-fat and high-calorie foods to mice and comparing their behavior to mice with a healthy diet (citation). The dopaminergic signaling was over-stimulated in the group consuming a fat- and calorie-dense diet. In turn, their eating schedule was disrupted, and they began snacking more frequently.
In contrast to prehistoric times, a decadent brownie or a bag of barbecue-flavored chips is now just a few steps away in the kitchen. That level of abundance is just not something we evolved to handle. It turns our reward-seeking behavior from a positive to a negative, and it puts the system on overdrive.
Modern foods are specifically engineered to trigger our reward systems with fat, sugar, unnaturally satisfying textures, etc. (citation). These processed foods are so stimulating to our brain’s reward system that they blunt it over time, requiring more and more food to activate it in the future. One study showed a significant decrease in dopamine availability in obese people (citation), supporting the idea that the more frequently and regularly you consume processed food, the less pleasure you get from the same amount, driving you to eat even more.
How can we break this vicious cycle? There is no magic bullet, but we can adjust our eating habits by shifting towards practices proven beneficial by science.
While it’s easier said than done, slight lifestyle changes through diet and exercise help recover the dopaminergic response naturally. For example, protein-rich foods, such as legumes, eggs, turkey, beef, and dairy products, contain the amino acids tyrosine and phenylalanine, known to regulate dopamine production (citation, citation). In addition, removing energy-dense and processed foods from our pantries can help mitigate the consequences of late-night cravings. So too can adhering to healthy dietary practices like eating on a defined schedule and having set mealtimes.
Mindfulness practices are also gaining recognition as a way to alleviate cravings. A set of case studies (citation) employed decentering to demonstrate reduced compulsive eating behavior. When participants objectively observed their own reactions to food stimuli and acknowledged the transient nature of these cravings, the initial impulses were blunted over time. While these studies were conducted on relatively small groups of participants, mindfulness action should be explored further as a potential supplementary method to combine with a healthy diet and exercise.
If you’ve ever gone camping, you probably experienced feeling sleepy earlier than usual, especially in the absence of your technological gadgets. This is your body reverting to the factory settings of its biological clock.
Humans harbor a distinct circadian rhythm with biochemical feedback loops that regulate levels of wakefulness in a little-over-24-hour loop, depending on the natural lighting in the environment. Basically, our biological clocks program us to be awake in daylight and sleepy at night under normal circumstances.
At least two theories have been proposed as to why we evolved to have our distinct biological clock. The restorative theory (citation) suggests that our ancestors needed sufficient sleep to minimize energy demand and expenditure at night simply because finding resources would have been more challenging in darkness. The adaptive theory (citation) describes sleep as an adaptive function to remain silent and inactive at night when we are most vulnerable to predatory attacks.
Unlike the prehistoric times, the present day is abundant in resources and relatively safer at night. We are also surrounded by artificial light from our phones, laptops, TV, and so on. Our interaction with technology means our light exposure is irregular, but there is substantial evidence that artificial light at night suppresses the secretion of melatonin, which disrupts our sleep cycle (citation). Many of us are in the near-constant presence of artificial light, deprived of the rejuvenating functions of sleep and with a disrupted circadian rhythm.
While our bodies have not yet evolved to compensate for that prolonged disruption, regulating exposure to light (especially the blue wavelength that matters for the circadian rhythm) can help restore a healthy sleep and wake cycle. This can help you stay alert and focused during the first half of the day and more relaxed and ready for rest in the second half. We can achieve this by viewing sunlight early in the morning and minimizing artificial light exposure at least one hour before bed (citation).
Social interactions have always been integral to our well-being. A multitude of research (citation) and systematic reviews (citation) indicate a strong correlation between social isolation and overall health and lifespan, mainly due to a neuropeptide called tachykinin that disrupts neural circuit function when upregulated (citation).
Clearly, the human brain adapted to socializing as a survival tactic. A study in the scientific journal Nature proposed a model suggesting the need for primates to become social beings with the mindset of “safety in numbers” (citation). As they switched from nocturnal life to diurnality, they became vulnerable to a wide range of predators and thus had to live in packs. According to another Nature study, as hominids continuously evolved language and communication skills, they were able to share ideas and develop tools fit for a terrestrial lifestyle (citation).
While the brain adapted to exhibit prosocial behavior in small to moderate groups, its ability to interact with large groups remained limited. Evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar conducted pioneering research in this field by correlating the brain size of various primates and their interaction quota, resulting in Dunbar’s number, suggesting that the human brain is roughly limited to 150 meaningful connections. In other words, humans struggle to cooperate and maintain groups larger than 150.
According to evolutionary psychologists Sarah Hill and David Buss (citation), socialization also served a function for our ancestors to determine their status in the group hierarchy and strive to avoid being abandoned by the group.
How do these facts relate to the social lives we lead today? While comparison helped our ancestors strive to improve in order to maintain their place in constricted social circles, our brain runs the same comparison with the millions of people we could potentially follow on social media. The technology gathers an astronomical number of people – who would not have been able to coexist seamlessly in nature – on a virtual platform. While it certainly does open our eyes to new and diverse experiences, the downside is that our brain primitively compares us to far too many others than we can handle. Viewing so many other people’s lives all at once – exacerbated by the unrealistic curation inherent in social media and influencer culture – leads to anxiety, feelings of inadequacy, and depression (citation).
Fortunately, we can reverse the harmful effects of social media by regulating how much time we allocate to it and the type of content we expose ourselves to. If we do this, we might be able to use social media in a positive way: as a means of accessing helpful information and connecting with people.
The obvious solution is to limit our time on social media. The data bears this out. A 2018 study reports significant improvement in feelings of loneliness and depression in participants who limited social media time to 30 minutes per day for three weeks (citation).
In addition to time management, though, regulating the content you follow can also materially improve your mental health. Recognize what type of content evokes uncomfortable feelings and replace that with more positive and uplifting content.
Finally, employing a conscientious “name it to claim it” mentality can be helpful as well. By explicitly telling yourself that the people you are following on social media are not an actual representation of a social group to compare yourself to, you can disrupt feelings of inadequacy that may arise from subconscious comparison.
Humans did not have a long life expectancy until recently. Predators, exposure, disease, malnutrition, and more all kept life expectancy low for a long time.
And even though it rose relatively steadily for the last few thousand years, it’s only very recently that life expectancy has truly exploded. In the 20th century alone, the US saw a sharp increase in average life expectancy: from 46 to 74 in men and 48 to 79 in women.
While it’s definitely a common wish to lead longer lives, the human body is still relatively new to the concept. That’s why the body hasn’t evolved the machinery to maintain its integrity for that long.
The result is a general decline in health around 30 years, which has been shown to particularly impact hearing (citation), visual acuity (citation), muscle strength (citation), and the immune system (citation). In addition, the implications of the items we previously discussed could accumulate in the body and manifest at later stages of life in the form of cardiovascular diseases (citation), hypertension (citation), osteoarthritis (citation), and diabetes (citation).
Obviously, there is no magic elixir to keep our biological age at 20-30 indefinitely, but we can do things to better utilize the limited time we have to lead a fulfilling life. Fortunately, science is constantly working to reveal how our bodies process substances and stimuli, which can help solve health problems previously deemed unsolvable.
Health decline is a natural process, but we can significantly slow down that decline by establishing healthy habits and moderating practices that have harmful long-term effects. This heavily relies on our lifestyle choices and daily habits, including the previously-mentioned science-based suggestions regarding diet, sleep, exercise, social interactions, and regulating alcohol consumption.
Making conscious choices to implement healthy practices is easier thanks to reliable and accessible scientific research. We can significantly improve our overall health and lifespan by keeping up to date with scientific information. Indeed, evolution endowed us with the cognitive skills to put that information to use. So let’s go out and use it.
]]>ZBiotics is for anybody, but not everybody.
We know that not everyone drinks alcohol and not everyone has a need for this specific bioengineered product. ZBiotics won’t work for people who don’t drink responsibly or expect a miracle the morning after. But for the people who do drink alcohol responsibly and are excited about this cutting-edge technology, we’re proud to have invented a first-of-its-kind probiotic drink that adds substantive value to their lives.
So, what do ZBiotics customers have in common? In a recent survey, we asked our customers about the most important ways ZBiotics helps them live better after drinking. The top two responses were enjoying next day experiences and meeting next day responsibilities.
Our customers aren’t only interested in ZBiotics for its revolutionary effect on acetaldehyde, but also for its ability to help them live full, healthy, happier lives. To really understand what life with ZBiotics looks like, we included some customer reviews of ZBiotics from real people we’re grateful to count among our customers.
ZBiotics customers drink responsibly. They know our product has no impact on intoxication—that’s why they treat it like insurance for the next day. 70% of our customers said they’re likely to reach for a ZBiotics when they expect to have at least a couple of drinks or more than they usually do. They know how alcohol will make them feel the next day, so before they even start drinking, they make sure to set themselves up for success in the morning.
But ZBiotics is just as functional whether you have one drink or three. Preparing for the third day of a music festival can share the same worries as a weekday beer with dinner if you have plans the next day.
Customers of ZBiotics need to think ahead because they’re living busy lives. Whether they’re professionals, parents, travelers, or other busy individuals, they want to enjoy happy hour or a nightcap without sacrificing their to-do list. For them, drinking ZBiotics is an investment in tomorrow.
“ZBiotics has been such a huge help for me in reducing my anxiety around having a drink or two with friends during the week! What used to cause a very inevitable and very obvious drop in my productivity and creativity the next day is now an enjoyable, stress-free night with friends.” - Kofi O., a software engineer and singer
ZBiotics customers put their health first, so they stick to the routines that make them feel their best. They’re not going to let a couple drinks get in the way of their morning workout!
“Even last night, had a couple of beers, went to some breweries…and today, hiked 10 miles in the beautiful Washington State Cascade Mountains so thank you, ZBiotics, for letting us have our fun and live our lives, too.” - Kristin A., a Navy nurse and lover of the Great Outdoors
When asked what activities they’re passionate about, 68% of our customers said fitness and 58% said healthy eating. They look to fitness and nutrition experts to stay informed and help them live an active, balanced life—one that can also include drinking in moderation.
In fact, drinking mindfully and intentionally is how our customers incorporate ZBiotics into their healthy lifestyles. Living a healthy life also means maintaining healthy habits with alcohol.
59% of ZBiotics customers say that socializing is their main motivation for drinking. They’re excited to celebrate big events like weddings, birthdays, and holiday parties; they look forward to going on vacations with friends and family—and meeting new people along the way.
For many people, drinking will be a part of social events, so our customers stay prepared with ZBiotics. They can live in the moment and not worry about how they’ll feel the day after, even when they’re traveling. ZBiotics is travel-friendly, not to mention they make a great, easy gift to share with friends before the drinking starts.
“I went on a trip to Korea recently with some friends and brought ZBiotics with me. And it was a total life-saver. Going out drinking multiple nights in a row would usually make me super drained but I felt great! - Elizabeth B., LA-based travel and food aficionado
ZBiotics is the world’s first genetically engineered probiotic on the market, and we love talking to our customers to learn what they’re most curious about. They ask great questions and give great feedback, knowing that the ZBiotics probiotic drink does something no other product does: breaking down acetaldehyde, a byproduct of alcohol that can contribute to rough mornings after drinking.
Want in on a little trade secret? When we advertise ZBiotics, we almost always lead with our science. After years of testing and insights, we found out people are drawn most to our product because of our transparent, science-forward, and educational brand messaging.
Our customers are as excited about this innovative technology as we are, and they seek out a deep understanding of how it works in their bodies. That naturally leads to a curiosity about things like genetic engineering, biology, and the microbiome. We’re more than happy to continue these important conversations.
“One of the most practical and necessary synbio innovations yet - and yes, it actually works. My husband and I don’t drink without it.” - Abigail Y., an expert in the sustainable agriculture and food tech community
Chances are that you drink or know someone who drinks alcohol. But responsible drinkers know that alcohol comes with tradeoffs. Drinking water while drinking alcohol is important, but it doesn’t solve everything. Layered on top of responsible drinking, ZBiotics can help where other methods can’t.
At ZBiotics, we use real, cutting-edge technology to help people who drink mindfully and always plan ahead, even before they take their first sip. If you want to feel prepared to wake up refreshed tomorrow, join the thousands of people who drink ZBiotics before drinking alcohol.
ZBiotics conducted a digital survey from July 27, 2022, to August 2, 2022, with 383 respondents. A population of approximately 6,000 ZBiotics customers across the United States of America were invited to participate in the survey via email.
]]>At ZBiotics, we know the importance of the gut microbiome. It’s at the heart of why we started this company. But as microbiologists, we often see confusion about microbiome-related products.
Today, we want to clear up confusion related to three key products: prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics.
Unfortunately, – whether because they sound the same or because there is a lot of misinformation out there – understanding what differentiates these ‘-biotics’ can be difficult. They’re all intended to interact with your microbiome in some way, but they are quite different.
Prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics each serve a specific function. In the same way that we don’t think of bacteria as "good" or "bad,” we don’t think about each ‘-biotic’ as healthy or unhealthy. It takes some effort to get to know each of them.
Before you decide to adopt pre-, pro-, or postbiotics into your lifestyle, let’s take a closer look at what they actually are and how they differ. From the microbiologists behind the world’s first pre-alcohol probiotic, here are some fast facts about prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics.
Prebiotics are, essentially, a food source for microbes in your gut. On a molecular level, prebiotics are primarily fibers, resistant starches, and sugars your body can’t digest. Beneficial gut bacteria* turn prebiotics into food and “eat” them using fermentation, growing and thriving in the process.
*Note: When we refer to “bacteria” we are not excluding other non-bacterial microbes in the microbiome.
Many of the foods humans eat are good sources of prebiotics. They include, but are not limited to (citation):
In practice, probiotics are live microbes (usually bacteria or fungi) that are safe to eat.
Probiotics are typically defined as live microorganisms intended to have health benefits when consumed or applied to the body. However, studies have yet to demonstrate that commercial probiotics provide health benefits across large, diverse populations. This raises doubts about the claims often made about conventional probiotics.
We dig deeper into this issue in another blog post: What’s the Problem with Probiotics?
In addition to purified probiotic supplements, you primarily find probiotics in cultured, unpasteurized foods. These are fermented foods that still have live microbial communities.
Examples include:
Postbiotics are molecules produced when the microbes in and on your body (i.e. your microbiota) eat or break down prebiotics and other molecules. These molecules form during a fermentation process that occurs in your gut. Essentially, postbiotics are the chemical outputs released by your microbiota.
Some postbiotics can be good for your body. These include:
Postbiotics are found in foods that have (or had) live and metabolically active microbes. Again, these tend to be fermented foods. Examples of foods that may contain postbiotics include:
We’ve been talking about conventional prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention a new class of probiotics that operates a bit differently: engineered probiotics. Unlike conventional probiotics, engineered probiotics perform specific, defined functions – often by producing an enzyme that does something beneficial.
The first of this class is the ZBiotics pre-alcohol probiotic, which we engineered to help break down acetaldehyde – an unwanted byproduct of alcohol.
While ostensibly a “probiotic,” ZBiotics (or, more specifically, the bacteria Bacillus subtilis ZB183™) is unlike conventional probiotics in the following ways:
To learn more about the science behind ZBiotics, visit our homepage.
]]>Zack knew that genetic engineering could make people’s lives healthier and happier in many new ways, but how would he convince consumers of that? In his own words, “Ultimately my mission was to advocate for the incredible uses of genetic engineering, and the best way to do that was not to give everybody a science lesson. It's much easier to have people open their minds when you have something they want and that they understand.”
The story of ZBiotics’ first product starts over a decade ago, when Zack was working on his PhD in Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Michigan. He was becoming an expert in bacterial and microbial genetics, fascinated by the way genetic engineering can be used to change microbes’ behavior to make them perform specific, beneficial functions.
In the world of pharmaceuticals, protein drugs (called "biologics") were quickly becoming a rising, powerful class of drug thanks to the combination of genetic engineering and microbes. Scientists were engineering bacteria (among other things) to produce proteins, then isolating those proteins to use as drugs. Zack was excited by how the industry was showing a new way that genetic engineering could benefit our lives. But as he continued learning and researching, he noticed two roadblocks preventing the technology from reaching its full potential.
Problem #1: Protein drugs - the most common way this technology was being deployed - were expensive and complicated to make. Isolating a protein from a microbe makes the protein unstable, requiring certain conditions like constant cold storage. Additionally, scientists often had to use microbes like E. coli, which have strains that can be unsafe for human consumption and require a long, expensive purification process to make the drug safe to use. Cost and logistics limited the use of bioengineering technology to the large companies that could afford it, and it was most lucrative for them to focus on treating diseases, such as cancer or chronic inflammation.
By building out the technology more simply, Zack realized that the application of genetic engineering could be massively broadened for many uses, especially in improving healthy people’s daily lives.
Problem #2: Outside of his lab research, Zack was also concerned about a label he saw every time he went to the grocery store: “non-GMO”.
He recognized that genetic engineering had a significant PR problem, due to a lack of transparency and a historical tie to bad business practices (especially in the agricultural industry). The technology itself had been conflated with the products and industry that made use of it. However, Zack knew this powerful technology could also be leveraged to do good - everything from combating climate change to helping people live healthier lives.
With all this in mind, Zack wanted to find a simpler way to make genetically engineered products more accessible and, along the way, elevate the black-and-white conversation around GMOs.
That’s when he had an idea: cut out the "middleman." He could take a probiotic bacteria—a safely ingestible one—and engineer it to make a protein directly inside the body. Instead of delivering the protein, why not deliver the protein factory? And instead of using it to make yet another prescription drug, what if he made the technology readily available for consumers in their lives?
This radically new idea was exciting to Zack, but he needed to see what other people thought. Before finalizing his PhD in 2015, he entered a pitch competition to present the idea of a genetically engineered probiotic with a specific use: helping the gut recover from radiation exposure. Zack recalls standing on the stage and realizing that it was “...a really cool scientific idea, but objectively, a pretty terrible idea for a consumer business. It was all science and just not at all interesting to people. Eyes were glazing over.”
At the end of his pitch, however, he emphasized that this idea could apply to a broad number of applications. He listed about ten other ideas, such as increasing nutrient absorption from our food, protecting the bodies of astronauts in space, and even feeling better the morning after drinking alcohol.
At that moment, a light bulb went off in Zack’s mind. Seeing their excitement made him realize how he could successfully launch this technology—by solving a tangible, common problem that many people have experienced.
At the post-event reception, people sought out Zack in the crowd, asking to learn more about that last idea about solving rough mornings after drinking. At that moment, a light bulb went off in Zack’s mind. Seeing their excitement made him realize how he could successfully launch this technology — by solving a tangible, common problem that many people have experienced. To have an impact on the way people thought about genetic engineering, he needed to make something that people understood and cared about.
A couple years later, after finishing his PhD and working for a contract research organization designing clinical trials for drug companies, Zack felt ready to make this idea a reality. The first step was to rent a lab in Berkeley, California, where he'd be for the next 12 months. He worked around the clock, sometimes spending the night in a sleeping bag on the floor of the lab to finish an experiment. But his hard work paid off. After a year, he had the first prototype.
“As far as I know, I was the first human to intentionally ingest a genetically engineered probiotic,” remembers Zack. The results were exactly what he had hoped for. Trying it before a night of drinking, he found that he felt better than expected the next morning. And the friends he shared it with reported similar effects. After running additional tests to further validate the prototype's performance, Zack knew he had something worthwhile.
“At that point, I realized I needed to turn the science experiment into a real business,” says Zack. “I started looking for a co-founder because I knew I couldn’t do it all myself. That’s when I was introduced to Stephen Lamb.”
After working together for months, Zack convinced Stephen to join him full-time by taking him out for drinks — and trying the prototype. The results spoke for themselves, and Stephen was on board. Three years later, with a bigger team and a bigger lab, rigorous testing, more funding, and a patent for the technology, the world’s first genetically engineered probiotic was on the market: ZBiotics® Pre-Alcohol Probiotic Drink.
Since then, ZBiotics has continued to grow. More and more people discover it every day. And one of the goals Zack had at the very beginning - to give people a model for a different kind of GMO - is showing signs of bearing fruit.
The success of ZBiotics always depended on whether people would accept a different kind of genetically engineered product in their lives. The core hypothesis was that they would - if a company used genetic engineering responsibly, transparently, and for the good of the customer.
Since day 1, we've been printing “proudly GMO” on every bottle. And it hasn’t hindered growth at all. In fact, it's been quite the opposite.
“I had this hypothesis that people would accept the product if it was transparent, and it's exactly what we've seen,” says Zack. “Most people don’t actually care one way or the other about GMOs and just want a good product. But some people will even say they usually avoid GMOs, but ZBiotics is different because it benefits them directly, delivers on what it promises, and the science makes sense. That's been really validating in its own right.”
That direct benefit harkens back to the original pitch. When you improve life in a tangible way, it makes people’s heads turn. Now that we know we can build that kind of product, and that people are interested in it, it’s time for us to think bigger.
That's another part of that original pitch: the underlying technology can do way more than just this one thing.
So, stay tuned!
]]>Maybe you’re considering doing “Dry January” – cutting out alcohol during the first month of the year. The idea sounds great. The emotional and physical effects of alcohol are worth taking a break from, and it’s a simple rule to follow: just don’t drink.
But although Dry January sounds great, for many of us there’s a better option.
The great thing about the new year is that it provides a fresh start. It’s easier than at any other time of year to reconsider old routines and make new choices to improve your life. Those choices can kickstart new, healthy habits that make life better for years down the road.
The problem with Dry January? It doesn’t do that.
Dry January’s all-or-nothing approach only serves as a temporary reset – not a long-term improvement to your life. It’s like a crash diet. Come February, it’s the easiest thing in the world to fall right back into the same old drinking routines. That’s not sustainable.
But there is an alternative. We can leverage the opportunity of the new year to initiate smarter and healthier drinking habits that actually stick. And by sticking to them, we set the stage for a healthier relationship with alcohol long into the future.
At ZBiotics, we’re about improving life in ways that are sustainable. Often, that means marginal improvements that stack over time to create major, lasting change.
Anyone who’s ever made that kind of change in their own life knows what this means: changing habits.
Changing or developing new habits is tough. One study found that the average time it takes to form a new habit is more than two months – assuming the habit is picked up at all (Lally et al., 2010). And a growing body of scientific research is revealing what we know intuitively to be true: habit formation doesn’t just take time, it also takes the right environment, incentives, and circumstances to be successful (van der Weiden et al., 2020).
If it takes us two months on average to develop a new habit, how can we expect Dry January to be anything more than a temporary reset? The answer is that we can’t. It’s a quick break in routine that may be helpful at the time, but it fails to take advantage of the opportunity to be anything more than that.
This is born out on the data. One of the reasons people attempt Dry January is because they’re interested in cutting back their alcohol intake. According to some Nielsen research, a full 47% of Americans are looking to make this change. But if that’s your goal, Dry January is unlikely to help.
A 2021 study analyzing the impact of Dry January on people’s drinking habits found that increased participation in Dry January did not correlate with lower alcohol consumption – neither during February-December nor during January itself (Case et al., 2021).
Dry January just isn’t a method for sustainable change.
This year, consider going another route. Instead of Dry January’s temporary and total purge of alcohol, use the start of the year to kickstart some new healthy drinking habits.
Set an intention, and make choices that give yourself the best chance to succeed.
If the goal is developing healthier drinking habits – and we think it should be – then we have good news. The same data telling us that habit formation is difficult also provides pointers on how to make it easier. Research indicates that the following elements facilitate habit formation (Kaushal & Rhodes, 2015):
Let’s focus on two of these elements: low behavioral complexity and consistency.
“Low behavioral complexity” means you’re more likely to form habits around behaviors that are simple and easy than around behaviors that are complex and hard. That’s intuitive. Making a big, dramatic change to our behavior all at once is more difficult than making a minor change that is easier to enact.
Which brings us to consistency. When behaviors are easier, we’re more likely to do them, which makes it more likely that we do them again and again. More consistency means more sustainable habit formation.
Knowing what we now do about habit formation, we can use it to enact a better alternative to Dry January: healthier drinking habits.
Instead of going cold turkey this year, we recommend setting an intention to build healthier drinking habits, and using the fresh start of the new year to help us succeed.
There are no rules for how to do this. And we don’t judge anybody – including ourselves – for trying different things here. Changing alcohol consumption patterns needs to take your lifestyle into account to be sustainable. We talked about consistency and complexity, but having the right environment is another element of habit formation, and all of our environments are different.
In thinking about what you can do to build healthier drinking habits, we recommend a few things:
For inspiration, here are examples of some healthy-habit intentions:
These are just a starting point. Iterate on what works for you by considering what’s realistic and how you’ll implement it.
Then, when you accomplish that intention enough times that it becomes second nature, you’ll have meaningfully improved your relationship with alcohol. And that doesn’t have to end in January; you’ll be able to build on it all year long going forward!
Regardless of the goals you set for the new year, a healthy relationship with alcohol is important to our health and wellbeing.
Remember that not everyone can choose to be sober, nor control how much alcohol they intake. 14.5 million people in the United States suffer from alcohol use disorder (NIH, 2019). If you or a loved one struggles with alcohol and needs professional support, contact an alcohol treatment center, rehabilitation center, or SAMHSA’s National Helpline.
]]>This is due to a change in our bottle-filling process and formulation. More details are below if you are interested, but in short, we increased the acidity in the bottles with the addition of citric acid, resulting in a tarter and more citrusy flavor. The probiotic bacteria is exactly the same, and the product quality is improved, with greater shelf-stability and consistency from bottle to bottle.
Essentially, we switched from filling our product with hot water to filling it with ambient temperature water.
We previously used hot water because it is one method of ensuring that there are no live contaminants in the bottle (e.g. unwanted bacteria or yeast/mold). The heat kills them. The probiotic bacteria we use in ZBiotics has the natural ability to form an endospore. An endospore is a super-resilient state that allows the bacteria to tolerate lots of stressors, including the high heat used to kill off contaminants in the bottling process.
However, even though the endospores were resilient to the heat, they weren’t entirely resistant. After being on the market for a few years and reviewing data from several bottling runs, we saw occasional variability in the number of bacteria per bottle. This depended on how big of a batch we made and how much time the formula was held at high temperature.
To remove this variability and ensure a more consistent product, we decided to shift to filling our bottles with ambient temperature water. Because we are no longer using heat to protect against contamination, we instead use a lower pH (i.e. higher acidity) and a common beverage preservative called potassium sorbate. This combination is actually a stronger protection against contamination, and our probiotic can tolerate it better than the heat-based process.
This results in a higher quality and more consistent product in every single bottle. Furthermore, it lives up to our commitment to deliver the highest quality product to our customers.
First and foremost, because of the increased acidity with more citric acid, the product tastes tarter and more citrusy than our previous formulation. We also removed one of our other flavors, so it tastes a little less earthy. It’s not a huge change – more of a slight evolution. If you’ve had ZBiotics before, you might notice it. But no need to be alarmed. The flavor change is intentional and to be expected.
In addition to the change in flavor, there’s another great benefit! Because the probiotic is more stable and the product is more consistent bottle to bottle, we’ve actually seen better customer feedback for this new formula compared to the old. ZBiotics customer satisfaction was already very high (>90%). But customers who’ve tried the new version are responding even more positively than they were before.
That’s super exciting. The formulation change resulted in a better, more consistent, higher quality product, and that’s translating to even greater benefit for you!
If you have any questions or would like to learn more, of course as always you can contact us at info@zbiotics.com, and we’d be happy to dive in deeper!
]]>There is a significant amount of research that explains why drinking alcohol leaves you feeling tired even after what you may think is a good night’s rest. Luckily, there are some steps you can take to avoid the morning-after sluggishness we all know and dread. Here is a closer look at how alcohol interferes with good sleep and how to minimize the effects happy hour can have on quality rest.
Most people assume that as long as they sleep for eight hours, they’re getting a good night’s rest. However, staying in bed for this recommended amount of time doesn't necessarily translate to quality sleep, especially if alcohol is involved. Quality sleep means you:
If you have experienced a good night of sleep, you shouldn’t wake up feeling groggy and tired. Instead, you’ll feel refreshed, alert, and ready to take on the day.
Quality sleep involves two kinds of sleep: REM (rapid eye movement) and non-REM sleep. Non-REM sleep has three stages, while REM sleep only has one (citation). If you are sleeping well, you’ll go through the four stages of sleep about four to six times throughout the night, with each full cycle lasting around 90 minutes (citation). The four stages of sleep include:
Several parts of the brain are at work both when you fall asleep and as you sleep (citation). For example, the hypothalamus and its contained cells influence sleep and wakefulness through light detection from the eyes. Likewise, the thalamus grows quiet so you can tune out sensory stimulation during the first stages of sleep, and the pineal gland produces melatonin, a hormone that helps you sleep. Other parts of the brain are involved as well, such as the forebrain, midbrain, and amygdala. Different regions become less and more active as you cycle through each of the four sleep stages.
Sleeping while intoxicated (or even after just a few drinks) can be vastly different from sleeping sober. You’ll often feel the difference in the quality of sleep the next morning. Even though being intoxicated can mean you fall asleep faster, you may wake more frequently throughout the night, experience restlessness, and have a hard time waking up the next morning. It’s common to feel extremely drowsy the next day following a night of drinking, even if you stayed in bed for longer than usual the morning after.
Why does alcohol change how we sleep? Let’s take a closer look at what happens inside the body and brain during an alcohol-influenced sleep cycle.
Yes. Alcohol is classified as a depressant, which means it can lead to a relaxed state or feeling sleepy. In short, it acts as a sedative, which results in decreased sleep latency times for most people (citation). Alcohol also boosts adenosine levels, a chemical produced by the brain that helps you fall asleep and wake up (citation).
While alcohol may help you fall asleep faster, the positive effects stop there. Shortly afterward, your body experiences a "rebound effect" that disrupts your sleep for much of the rest of the night (citation).
Why does this happen?
To understand alcohol’s effects on sleep, you first have to understand how your body processes alcohol. After you drink alcohol, it enters the bloodstream via the digestive system and gets broken down by the liver. This is a slow process. The sedative effects of alcohol kick in for a bit, but then the body rebounds as it is being processed.
This rebound effect occurs for several different reasons.
For one, alcohol interferes with melatonin production around two to three hours after consumption, and melatonin helps you stay asleep (citation). This explains why it is not uncommon for intoxicated people to wake up at night and have difficulty falling back asleep. Alcohol also disrupts or changes REM sleep (citation). Several studies have demonstrated that alcohol consumption before bed suppressed REM earlier in the sleep cycle and led to less REM during the night (citation). Finally, alcohol alters slow-wave (delta) sleep patterns while promoting wakefulness as it is metabolized (citation). This combination of effects disrupts sleep and can lead to poor quality sleep overall.
The extent to which alcohol affects sleep patterns obviously can differ depending on how many drinks were consumed. One study assessed the association between alcohol intake and the body’s stress recovery capabilities – which are highly related to sleep quality (citation). Researchers found considerable differences in the body’s ability to recover from stress depending on how many drinks were consumed:
If you’re planning to have a few drinks with friends tonight, here are a couple of tips that may help you avoid sleep disruptions. To make the most of the day after drinking, remember to:
The average person processes one alcohol-based drink every one to two hours. However, several factors influence this process, such as gender, age, and body mass. With this in mind, if you have two drinks in a short window of time, let’s say two 12-ounce beers or two cocktails within 15 minutes, you may need to wait around four hours before going to bed. This can be extremely unrealistic, especially if you started drinking late. However, if you space these drinks out over two or three hours, your body will likely have already processed the alcohol before going to sleep.
A good general rule is to allow two hours for every drink you consume. Remember, start counting the time from when you start drinking, not from when you finish drinking. The longer you give your body to break down the alcohol before going to sleep, the less likely it will affect sleep quality.
While a good night’s rest is ultimately dependent on you, follow our tips for better sleep after happy hour and set yourself up for success tomorrow with ZBiotics. Make ZBiotics your first drink of the night, pair it with responsible drinking habits and a good night’s sleep, and wake up feeling fresher tomorrow!
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute for and should never be relied upon for professional medical advice.
]]>Celebrating with friends over bubbly, grabbing a beer with the boss, or a glass of wine to unwind – many of life’s moments involve alcohol. As enjoyable as a good buzz can be, drinking alcohol, even in moderation, can come with drawbacks like cravings.
But is there a scientific explanation behind booze and food cravings, or is it simply another alcohol-related tall tale? Research shows that there are several physiological reasons why you might feel hungrier after drinking alcohol. It's especially common to experience cravings for certain junk foods before, during, or after the morning post-alcohol consumption. We'll break down the science behind alcohol-driven food cravings and help you develop a plan of action for curbing the “drunchies” after happy hour.
At first glance, it may seem strange that alcohol causes hunger, especially as alcohol is high in calories. Essentially, alcohol is ethanol, which is a calorie-dense organic compound. Ethanol is about 7 calories per gram, compared to 4 calories per gram with carbs and protein and 9 calories per gram for fat. This makes ethanol nearly as dense in calories as fat.
This should imply that ethanol contributes to satiation (or the feeling of “fullness”), but it does just the opposite and even boosts the appetite (citation). Several factors may contribute to this, including that alcohol:
Another link between alcohol and hunger is that alcohol stimulates the same neurons in the brain that are triggered when the body goes into starvation mode. This stimulation could even lead to ethanol-induced overeating (citation).
Pair all these findings with the well-established fact that alcohol causes a reduction in self-control, and it’s clear that indulging in food cravings, and even over-eating, after drinking is commonplace (citation).
Though feeling hungry is a biophysical process that involves certain hormones and compounds, appetite also originates in the brain. Behavioral changes from drinking alcohol can lower inhibitions and decrease defenses, especially when it comes to making good food choices and portion control.
This relationship may be explained by two linked behaviors sharing the same circuits in the brain (citation, citation). Researchers from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine conducted a study that focused on the eating and drinking patterns of male mice. Their findings uncovered a relationship between excessive alcohol consumption and binge eating, revealing that food cravings and alcohol are behaviorally linked.
Alcohol may also stimulate nerve cells in the brain’s hypothalamus that increase appetite. These neurons are activated by starvation, cause an extreme hunger sensation, and can be stimulated by consuming alcohol leading to those sometimes uncontrollable cravings. Likewise, alcohol affects the endocrine system and hormone response, both of which can be traced to brain functions (citation).
There are many myths surrounding alcohol consumption and the human experience. You’ve probably heard the old wives’ tale about alcohol and fatty foods: if you eat greasy foods after drinking, it will soak up the alcohol so that you wake up feeling like a million bucks! Unfortunately, the idea that fatty food absorbs alcohol is a myth.
Indulging in those feel-good greasy foods isn’t going to sober you up or make you feel better. The harsh reality is it can actually make you feel worse the morning after, as your body is working twice as hard to break down alcohol and high amounts of sodium and fat. But people often use this myth to justify indulging in those alcohol-driven food cravings.
However, eating more nutritious foods even up to five hours after consuming alcohol (long after the alcohol has already been absorbed) can actually boost how the body breaks down alcohol (citation). So in some cases, eating after drinking can indeed help you metabolize the alcohol more quickly. While food does not "absorb" or "sop up" alcohol, it does seem to increase the speed at which your body breaks it down.
While eating is always a good idea before drinking — and helpful after drinking to accelerate your body's metabolism of alcohol — eating greasy, high-fat, and high sodium foods may do more harm than good. If you’re going to eat after drinking alcohol, it's better to stick to healthier, less calorie-dense foods (since alcohol itself is already very calorie-dense).
How do you curb those unhealthy cravings and wake up feeling fresh after a few drinks with friends? Preparing before cocktail hour with a sober state of mind is key, as opposed to relying on your tipsy self to do the right thing later when your judgment is chemically impaired. Here are a selection of our best tips for great nights and better mornings:
Lastly, make ZBiotics your first drink of the night. While ZBiotics won’t help you curb alcohol-driven food cravings, it will help you to wake up feeling fresh enough to get back on track tomorrow!
Learn more about the world’s first pre-drinking probiotic here.
]]>We believe in evolution.
And if you saw our early prototype packaging, you know that to be true. Since our first prototype, we have changed ZBiotics’ packaging a number of times. And now we’ve chosen to change it again, to adapt to the needs of our customers and our planet.
We've upgraded our packaging to:
Our customers told us that while it looked great, there were a few issues, and they were right. First, the old packaging felt wasteful. Second, some of you experienced broken bottles when the old boxes failed in transit. Third, nobody liked it when we sold out of certain units because we were waiting for boxes to arrive from an overseas supplier.
So we listened to your feedback! We revised our packaging to reduce our carbon footprint, support domestic producers, and improve our customer experience.
While we were at it, we updated the look and feel to be cohesive with our new branding, which you can read more about here.
What do you think? Feel free to email us at support@zbiotics.com. We always appreciate your feedback and thank you for your support!
Let the evolution continue…
Team ZB
25 March 2022
As stated in this blog post, the goal of the new boxes was to be better for you (more convenient & protective) and better for the planet (both fully recyclable and produced using majority-recycled material). Indeed, we labeled the boxes with a recycling symbol and sent out an email stating the new boxes were 100% recyclable.
Built with Biology Digest, Larry Upton, Synbiobeta, December 9, 2021.
ZBiotics Rivals Supplements With Next Wave of Genetically Modified Probiotics, Matt Newberg, Hngry, December 1, 2021.
Beverage Startups See Money Pour In Following Pandemic Pullback, Isaac Taylor, Wall Street Journal, August 03, 2021.
PepsiCo selects 10 emerging innovators for Greenhouse Accelerator, Eric Schroeder, Food Business News, January 14, 2021.
Inside the murky world of probiotics, Jackson Ryan, CNET, September 9, 2019.
ZBiotics Launches First Product, Taylor Craig, Cheddar, August 16, 2019.
Here’s A Must-Read Before Tonight’s Party: The World’s First GMO Probiotic Is Here..., John Cumbers, Forbes, September 19, 2019.
The world's first GMO probiotic is for sale, Ryan Cross, Chemical & Engineering News, August 19, 2019.
A first-of-its-kind probiotic...It works by breaking down a dangerous byproduct of booze, Gabby Landsverk, Business Insider, August 16, 2019.
ZBiotics releases first GMO probiotic, Nutraceutical Business Review, September 12, 2019.
]]>
If you’ve gotten to know ZBiotics, you’ll notice we’ve updated our look. Here’s why:
When we first launched ZBiotics, we knew that something so fundamentally new would not be naturally familiar to people. So we launched with a look and feel that focused on making ZBiotics friendly and playful. Some of these elements were on the right track. People told us how they loved our focus on science and they praised the sleek look of our packaging.
But all of that was before we had a chance to get to know our customers. As we got to know them better, we learned some new and important things about our branding. Through many chats, phone calls, emails, and even a few focus groups, our community consistently told us the following:
This was music to our ears, truly! For the ZBiotics brand, we’ve always valued science, credibility, quality, and straightforward, honest explanations. It felt like our community was telling us to just be ourselves. So we went about making that happen.
First things first, we swapped our playful, fun illustrations for clean, instructional ones.
And replaced language that was more clever than it was clear.
Next, we added some photos of the product in context (with real human beings!) to show when and how it’s used.
Then we added a new page to the website called “How it Works” for folks who want to get right to the point.
And across the board, we upped the quality, got rid of the fluff, and made everything look cleaner.
We think it looks nice! What do you think?
Reach out at support@zbiotics.com to share your thoughts with us.
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Luckily, there’s ZBiotics® Pre-Alcohol Probiotic Drink, a great gift for the people in your life that enjoy an occasional alcoholic beverage or two.
ZBiotics…
Curious? Keep reading.
Developed by a team of PhD microbiologists, ZBiotics® Pre-Alcohol Probiotic Drink is the world’s first and only bioengineered probiotic, built to help you feel better the day after drinking.
Unlike supplements that target dehydration (which isn’t actually the cause of rough mornings), ZBiotics focuses on the alcohol byproduct that’s primarily responsible for next-day woes after drinking: acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde, which forms in the gut when we drink, can really mess with our bodies.
But drinking one bottle of ZBiotics before drinking alcohol can help. It addresses the problem at the source, using patented technology that helps to break down acetaldehyde before it can mess up tomorrow. Nothing else on the market can do what ZBiotics does – or do it so well.
One tiny bottle of ZBiotics lasts up to 18 hours, which means there’s plenty of time to enjoy the day and night before it’s time to rest. Just drink a bottle before your first cocktail, get plenty of rest, and put your worries about tomorrow morning to bed too.
Also, because ZBiotics comes in 3, 6, or 12-packs, it’s not a one-and-done kind of gift. It's a gift people will actually use throughout the holidays, New Year's Eve, and into the New Year.
The team at ZBiotics was very intentional about designing this revolutionary product to be as convenient to use as possible.
The instructions are simple: just drink one bottle before drinking alcohol. Bottles are small enough that you can tuck one into a purse or pocket, slip it into a stocking, add it to a gift bag, or arrange it on the bar at a party.
Traveling for the holidays? ZBiotics is TSA-compliant and compact enough to fit in your carry-on.
Simplicity doesn’t stop at utility, though. Each bottle contains just water, flavor, and engineered probiotic – making it sugar-free, gluten-free, zero calories, and vegan.
Giving the gift of ZBiotics says “I know you’re a responsible adult, as am I, so let’s add extra insurance for the next toast.”
This genetically engineered probiotic isn’t a magic bullet, and it doesn’t affect intoxication. Instead, it benefits those who like to be prepared, have busy lives, and don’t want to miss out on either the celebration or the important tasks of tomorrow. The holidays can be stressful, and ZBiotics means one less thing to worry about.
Starting at only $36 for a 3-pack, the price per bottle of ZBiotics is equivalent to a single drink, but it can save an entire day. So before you buy that bottle of champagne or whiskey sampler, consider picking up a pack of ZBiotics to go along with it.
If you’re feeling extra generous, ZBiotics also offers subscriptions that you can gift on 4, 6, 8, and 10 week cadences. Signing up for subscription reduces the price of each order by 20% and ensures your loved ones never have to worry about running out.
And if you have a big event coming up or a large number of clients, partners, or friends to find gifts for, you can get further volume discounts by buying ZBiotics in bulk. Bulk ZBiotics is great for holiday parties, family reunions, corporate gifts, weddings, and so much more.
Hopefully, you’ve read how ZBiotics makes for great gifting; but if you’re not convinced, try it for yourself!
With over 700,000 bottles sold and thousands of happy customers, it can’t hurt to grab a pack to test out. All of the reasons it makes an excellent gift are also the reasons you could use ZBiotics: the science, the ease, the confidence, and the innovation. You deserve a great morning too.
Take the stress out of holiday shopping. Buy ZBiotics here as a gift and/or for yourself.
]]>So, what is acetaldehyde? Simply put, acetaldehyde is a byproduct of alcohol. It causes some of the worst morning-after effects of drinking. But what is acetaldehyde and what makes it so bad for you? What are the ways your body is exposed to acetaldehyde, and how does acetaldehyde affect your body? This article is meant as your practical guide to acetaldehyde so you can be informed about this unwanted byproduct of alcohol metabolism.
Acetaldehyde (pronounced as a-suh-TAL-duh-hide, chemical formula: CH3CHO) – as the name implies – is an aldehyde, which is a highly reactive class of molecule.
The most important thing to know about aldehydes is that they have a double-bonded oxygen (=O group) that is highly reactive, which is what makes aldehydes so toxic. That double-bonded oxygen really wants to react with other molecules in your body, including molecules that you don’t want to be changed, such as your DNA. The main goal of detoxifying acetaldehyde is removing that double-bonded oxygen before it can react with something in your body.
Here we dive into a few interesting factors that affect our perceptions around the effects of alcohol, and there’s a case to be made that it’s as much about psychology as it is about chemistry.
We are inevitably exposed to acetaldehyde in our daily lives, even when we are eating healthy food. Quantitative analysis studies found many foods contain at least some amount of acetaldehyde. It’s often present naturally, but very occasionally it’s used as an additive or byproduct of a manufacturing process. Examples of some of the foods containing acetaldehyde are: yogurt, green tea, and many fruits such as orange, grapefruit, banana, strawberry, mango, pear, apricot, and apple (citation).
Don't worry about eliminating parfait or fruit salad from your diet, though. The human body produces enough enzymes to break down the small amounts of acetaldehyde present in these foods, so none of these food items are significantly toxic.
More significant sources of acetaldehyde include diesel exhaust, tobacco smoke, and alcohol consumption. These sources of acetaldehyde are the most common ways to get harmful levels of acetaldehyde in the body.
You might be wondering: if your body can break down the small amounts of acetaldehyde in food, how come it can’t do the same after drinking alcohol? It can, but it’s a matter of quantity and location. To give you a clear picture, we should clarify how your body breaks down alcohol.
Acetaldehyde formation is part of alcohol metabolism, in which ethanol (the intoxicating chemical in all alcoholic beverages) is converted to metabolites that your body can use. The chemical breakdown of ethanol consists of two stages, as illustrated below:
Each step is catalyzed by a specific enzyme, which speeds up these chemical reactions. The first step involves the oxidation of ethanol by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). As its name suggests, ADH facilitates ethanol to give up two H atoms and form acetaldehyde, the primary product of the first reaction. In the second step, acetaldehyde is further oxidized to acetate by the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). ALDH catalyzes this conversion to acetate by adding another oxygen to the molecule, and removing that highly reactive double-bonded oxygen.
This two-step process of ethanol to acetaldehyde to acetate mostly takes place in the liver after the alcohol travels into the gastrointestinal tract, is absorbed into the bloodstream, and subsequently makes its way to the liver (citation).
The acetaldehyde in the liver is short-lived since it is quickly converted to acetate. Compared to acetaldehyde, acetate is harmless, and your liver cells often convert it further into water and carbon dioxide. Approximately 80-90% of ethanol metabolism occurs in the liver.
The question is, what happens to the remaining 10% - 20%?
Scientists have known for a long time that ethanol is also converted into acetaldehyde in the gut. There, it’s both your human gut cells AND your gut microbiome handling the conversion, and that creates an important difference (citation).
Researchers demonstrated that several bacterial strains in your gut microbiome produced ADH enzymes and were also responsible for acetaldehyde production. Although many of these strains also produced ALDH enzymes (the ones that convert acetaldehyde to acetate), it was only in smaller amounts (citation).
In other words, your microbiome is much better at turning ethanol into acetaldehyde than it is at finishing the job by turning acetaldehyde into the non-toxic acetate. The result: acetaldehyde accumulates in the gut. Although the ADH activity in the gut is small in comparison to the liver, the resulting acetaldehyde concentration that is formed in the gut is significantly higher than what is formed in the liver. What’s worse is that the acetaldehyde produced in the gut gets absorbed into your bloodstream, where it can wreak havoc throughout your body on its way to the liver for final oxidation (citation).
The harmful effects of acetaldehyde stem from its highly reactive nature and specifically its carbonyl group (C=O).
This carbonyl group enables acetaldehyde to react with proteins, lipids, and DNA, which interferes with the functionality of these critical bodily components much like a wrench jams up the gears of a clock.
Accumulation of acetaldehyde also triggers signaling molecules to induce unwanted acute effects. For example, the acetaldehyde-induced release of epinephrine and norepinephrine, normally associated with the body’s fight-or-flight response, often causes cardiovascular symptoms like palpitations (citation). This is why you might feel anxious, sweaty, and have a racing heart rate the day after drinking.
Furthermore, acetaldehyde enhances histamine and bradykinin release, which causes your blood vessels to widen (a.k.a, vasodilation). This often manifests as increased skin temperature and flushing.
Acetaldehyde is not just another molecule that you have to memorize for an organic chemistry exam.
Your body’s exposure to acetaldehyde – particularly with alcohol consumption – can turn your body’s routine upside down. Although your liver is capable of turning alcohol all the way through acetaldehyde into harmless acetate, the same cannot be said for your gut. This is mainly because gut bacteria and your mucosal cells can convert ethanol to acetaldehyde but lack sufficient amounts of the ALDH enzyme to carry out the next step. This seemingly minor site of alcohol metabolism is actually a significant source of disturbance, even in moderate drinking. Not only is it likely to cause misery in your body until full recovery, but it can also have other undesirable effects if you are exposed frequently.
]]>There’s more to share, however, and we want to get right to the point with this article. Obviously, we believe drinking ZBiotics before drinking is a great way to help yourself out the next day. But even better is to set yourself up for as much success as possible by considering all the decisions you make in a night.
Drinking responsibly doesn’t have to mean having less fun; it just means making different decisions. Future-You will thank you for it. If you’re wondering how to feel better after drinking, here are some of our tips to feel better the day after drinking alcohol.
Tip #1: Plan Ahead
Tip #2: Eat
Tip #3: Pace Yourself
Tip #4: Drink Water
Tip #5: Stop Earlier
Tip #6: Sleep
Tip #7: Follow Through
While you’re still in your normal frame of mind (i.e. not intoxicated), decide how you want your day or night to go. By planning ahead, you’ll set better intentions, setting yourself up for a great next day.
Decide how many drinks you’ll have ahead of time, figure out when and how you’ll get to bed, and plan to have a good meal before drinking or going out. You’ll improve your chances and your confidence in waking up ready to tackle your next-day plans.
You’ve also probably been told that having food in your stomach helps you stay sober. While this is largely a myth, having eaten something substantive is much better than having an empty stomach while you drink and can also help to improve how you feel the morning after drinking
Eating before drinking alcohol and having food in your stomach will slow down the rate of alcohol absorption and minimize the irritation within your digestive system – irritation that can lead to effects like an upset stomach. In addition, studies have demonstrated that eating food even after you’ve already absorbed alcohol will still accelerate the rate at which you clear alcohol from your system by as much as 50%, which will definitely set you up for a better tomorrow (citation). Nutrition is vital even when you’re drinking, and luckily, it can also be delicious!
Your body breaks down alcohol at a given rate. Remember that we, as humans, didn’t really evolve to process alcohol, so slowing down that rate of drinking helps your body keep up with the many jobs it handles.
Keep in mind that it’s a marathon, not a race. Drinking 3 cocktails within an hour will have a significantly different impact on your experience than having 1 every other hour. What do you do with the time in between those drinks? Drink water, grab a bite, or just enjoy the company around you.
You’ve probably heard that drinking plenty of water while drinking alcohol is important. Hopefully, you read our post about dehydration and alcohol and know that alcohol doesn’t actually cause dehydration, and that this tip is more about helping your body process alcohol.
Alcohol can have many effects on your body, and it’s crucial that you provide as much support for organs like your liver and kidneys as possible. By helping to maintain your bodily functions and keeping your blood volume high with water, you’re helping yourself the next day.
Hopefully, if you’ve planned ahead, you know when you’ll need to stop drinking so you can be at least somewhat sober before bed. Specifically, you want your BAC to hit zero by the time your head hits the pillow.
Whether that means you pace yourself by having more drinks earlier on in the night or allocating a specific number of drinks per hour until you hit pause, you know your body best. You can still have a good time, but putting a stop on that last round earlier is one of the best ways to feel better the morning after drinking.
Closing down the bar and heading home at 5 AM when you have a 10 AM meeting is never a good idea. You need sleep. Your body needs sleep. Essential processes happen in our sleep, so getting as many hours of slumber as possible is an important step.
Alcohol is known to mess with your sleep cycle and cause lower quality sleep. Combine that with an already late night, and you’re not contributing to the cause of waking up in a good state. Your body needs time to metabolize alcohol, so going to bed still drunk off of last call shots isn’t going to help. Sleep longer and sleep better by sticking to your plans of stopping at a certain time and heading home at a reasonable hour.
Whether you have brunch, a big meeting, a workout, or plans with friends, skipping out will just make you feel more anxiety and guilt.
Whatever you’re intending to do the next day, make sure you follow through. We don’t want to lose out on what enriches our daily lives, and we don’t want to give alcohol consumption credit for doing that to our schedules. Feeling better after a night out isn’t just about your physical health, it’s about your mental and emotional health too. Don’t miss out on your plans; get up and go!
Want to have that glass of wine with dinner? Go for it. Buying yourself and the birthday girl a cocktail at the bar? Great. Unwinding from a stressful day by having a beer on the porch? Sounds nice.
The point of drinking smarter isn’t about enjoying yourself less. It’s about making better choices before, during, and after you drink so that you’re not relinquishing a good next day. To put it in perspective, you can enjoy more than just the alcohol with these tips.
You’ll get more time to talk with your friends by pacing yourself and drinking water. You’ll have a nourishing and tasty meal. You’ll have the pleasure of a solid night’s sleep. You’ll wake up and tackle the morning.
Sounds pretty good to us.
]]>Fortunately, you have a lot of influence over your microbiome, and you can promote a healthy microbiome through lifestyle choices, such as a healthy diet and exercise.
Here in part 2, we dive deeper into these good lifestyle choices and call out the things to avoid. We will also do some myth-busting about generic probiotics and their health claims. At the end, we close with a note about the exciting potential for leveraging engineered probiotics to enhance bodily functions without disrupting the resident microbiomes.
So, how do we increase microbiome diversity within our diet? Different microbes in your gut need different nutrients to thrive. By increasing the variety of food you put in – particularly the variety of complex carbohydrates, dietary fibers, and resistant starches from plants (e.g. fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes) – you are feeding as many species as possible, providing them with the energy necessary to reproduce and carry out metabolic activities.
That’s why a diverse diet is crucial to improving gut microbiome diversity.
Recalling our flea market analogy from the previous post, if you want to bring in a diverse variety of different customers (bacteria) to your flea market (your gut), you need to have lots of different kinds of stalls providing a variety of goods (diverse food/nutrients) to attract those customers and keep them coming back. If the vast majority of your stalls only offer rugs, for instance, you’ll start to only attract customers who want rugs. If your goal is to bring in lots of different kinds of customers (achieve microbial diversity), then you need to offer more than just rugs (eat more than just one kind of fiber/resistant starch).
Sadly, 75% of the food in mainstream supermarkets is produced from only twelve plants and five animal species (citation). So, to some extent, the food system is stacked against us in our efforts to get diverse sources of fibers and resistant starches. However, with a little bit of effort to spend more time in that other 25%, we can make a lot of progress supporting a healthy and diverse microbiome.
The first step to diversifying the gut microbiome is to make sure nutrients are available to them. The key nutrients for a healthy microbiome diet include dietary fibers and resistant starches, found primarily in plant-based foods.
In most plants, there are carbohydrate polymers that are neither absorbed nor digested by humans, and thus reach the colon (the end of the human GI tract) intact. Collectively called dietary fibers and resistant starches, these molecules are then utilized as a food source by the gut microbiota, stimulating their growth and metabolic activities.
They are most commonly found in plant-based foods like fruits, vegetables, grains, cereals, legumes, seeds and nuts. And they are often referred to as “prebiotics,” since they are a necessary PREcursor to a healthy microBIOTA.
Not all dietary fibers and resistant starches are the same, though. They vary significantly in properties that affect how easily different microbes can access them, how completely microbes can digest them, and where in the GI tract they are digested. In addition, different plant-based foods contain drastically different compositions of these fibers and starches. That's why each food appeals to different members of your microbiota (citation).
In other words, the key to a diverse microbiome diet is to introduce a large variety of dietary fibers and resistant starches that different microbes in your gut selectively consume. Indeed, cross-sectional studies confirmed the positive impact of plant-rich diets on microbiome diversity (citation, citation).
In order to help paint a picture of what we mean, we’ve put together a table with some examples of some different fibers and resistant starches, as well as the food sources they come from:
(Citation)
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but you can start to see that eating a diversity of grains, vegetables, roots, nuts, seeds, and fruits will provide you with lots of different types of fiber and resistant starches. It is important to note that even within each column, the different food sources provide different kinds of each fiber. For instance, you will get a very different β-glucan from whole wheat than you will from a yeast cell wall. And even those differences are meaningful to fostering a diverse microbiome.
For an extra nudge to feed your gut bacteria, you can use prebiotic supplements to accompany your plant-rich diet.
When buying prebiotic supplements, don’t just think about the amount of dietary fiber you’re trying to consume. (the amount of daily fiber recommended by health experts: is 25 grams for an adult female and 38 for an adult male, while one typical dose of a prebiotic supplement contributes about 5 grams [citation, citation]).
So it’s as much (or more) about the type of fiber than the amount. All prebiotics are not created equal. As discussed above, different dietary fibers and resistant starches (i.e. prebiotics) feed different microbes, and the needs of your microbiome will definitely be different than the needs of someone else’s microbiome. As such, just taking a generic “prebiotic” may or may not provide you with a benefit, depending on if it is a fiber/starch that your microbiome needs.
As such, much like with a diverse diet, you may need to experiment with different prebiotics or even potentially try several to get a true benefit.
If you're thinking about prebiotic supplements, it's worth keeping this in mind: unless you experience the physical consequences of your microbiome's health (good or bad, e.g., satiation/hunger, healthy food cravings/bad food cravings, regularity/lack of regularity, mood effects, etc.) it's actually pretty difficult to know whether particular prebiotic supplements are providing that benefit or not. The best way to know would be to get routine microbiome sequencing, but that's not feasible for most of us. Not that this means don't take or experiment with them – just know that it might be tough to discern how it's going when you do.
Fortunately, prebiotic supplement labels include information about the specific prebiotics in the product. Some useful prebiotics commonly found in supplements include:
You are probably aware of the many perks of exercise, but if your gym membership card has long turned into a museum artifact, here is some extra motivation for you.
The effects of exercise on the microbiome have been explored in numerous studies over the last decade. In a cross-sectional study with rugby players, regular training led to greater overall diversity and increased richness of 40 species in the gut microbiome (citation). In contrast, longitudinal studies with sedentary (inactive) individuals showed that six weeks of supervised endurance exercise altered participants’ microbiomes in potentially beneficial ways, depending on their body mass index (citation).
Although not thoroughly tested, there are several theories about how exercise can improve gut microbiome diversity. To put it simply, the microbes in your body are not only affected by what you eat but also by the environment around them (i.e. your body). As it turns out, exercise can potentially bring these conditions to an optimal level for many bacteria to thrive. These conditions include but are not limited to the integrity of the gut mucus layer (where bacterial colonization takes place; citation), reduction of nutrient transit time (to make nutrients available to bacteria more quickly; citation), pH, and temperature.
While these mechanisms need further investigation, the growing body of studies makes us feel confident enough to encourage exercise for a healthy microbiome.
While some nutrients promote the growth of beneficial bacteria, as you can imagine, too much of certain nutrients could hinder that growth or promote too much growth of bad or minor bacteria.
Exhibit A is sugar. When consumed in excessive amounts, sugar is one of the main antagonists of microbial diversity.
Just one example of studies done on this subject was a study in mice that clearly demonstrated that eating a high sugar diet resulted in a decrease in the overall diversity in the mouse microbiome, as well as a shift in the microbiome consistent with higher levels of systemic inflammation and metabolic disorders (citation). The mice in the study developed gut inflammation, abnormal blood glucose levels, and fat accumulation. Interestingly, the mice remained within normal-weight limits, creating a situation referred to as “normal-weight obesity” (aka “skinny fat”).
This study shows us that high sugar intake does not have to manifest as weight gain to inflict harm. A high-sugar diet impairs the very function of your gut by changing the population of bacteria living inside of it.
Similar to sugars, fat and protein – despite being essential for your health – can damage your microbiome when consumed excessively.
One study showed that a high-fat diet in mice was responsible for distributing the population ratio of different microbes known as the Bacteroidetes-to-Firmicutes ratio. That disturbance is affiliated with chronic gut inflammation, which leads to metabolic diseases like insulin resistance and obesity (citation).
Protein, too, can sometimes be too much of a good thing. While there is some data about the benefits of high protein diets for human health, its potential dangers should not be overlooked.
Certain protein fermentation products produced by the microbiome (such as L-carnitine from red meat and amino-acid-derived compounds) have already been associated with impairments in the central nervous system and blood circulation, leading to CNS diseases, obesity, and type 2 diabetes (citation).
In addition, what scientists commonly observed in several animal models given a high protein diet was a significant decrease in microbial diversity, particularly a reduction in short-chain fatty acid-producing bacteria, which are critical for gut health.
As we emphasize in many of our blog posts and on our website, alcohol and its byproduct acetaldehyde are the main actors behind the chaos that ensues in our bodies when we drink. Unfortunately, they also can have some undesirable effects on our microbiome as well.
In both humans and various animal models (citation, citation, citation), alcohol was shown to directly reduce microbial diversity. Furthermore, alcohol caused leakage of certain bacteria and their metabolites into the bloodstream, which resulted in liver damage (citation), and disruptions in the gut-brain axis. This caused changes in mood, cognition, and future drinking behavior (citation).
Stated another way, alcohol can perturb the microbiome. This alteration in the microbiome can cause changes to the health of your body and your psyche, indicating how important a stable microbiome is to your overall health. Many of the things we associate with harm due to alcohol are actually at least in part mediated by the disruption that alcohol causes to our microbiome.
Your gut microbiome has undeniable power over your brain, but the same is true the other way around. In other words, your neural activity - for example, your stress response - can alter your microbiome.
A recent animal study from the Ohio State University College of Medicine constitutes an excellent demonstration of the stress-gut microbiome relationship (citation). When the researchers simultaneously exposed mice to social stress and the pathogenic bacteria Citrobacter rodentium, the stressed group exhibited significantly higher gut inflammation in response to the pathogenic bacteria than the undisturbed group. When they looked at the microbiome composition, they identified certain types of bacteria to be particularly important for protection against inflammation, and the induced stress had caused a decrease in these bacteria.
This indicates that stress can shrink the good bacterial populations that protect against some pathogenic (harmful) bacteria, which gives these pathogens more room to grow and become active.
It might seem strange to squeeze in the following John Lennon quote amidst the fountain of scientific information, but here it is: “Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.”
Sometimes, you might face certain health matters – such as cancer or an infection – that force you to take certain therapies for a while. Most of the time, these therapies are not quite targeted (i.e. they kill healthy cells and beneficial bacteria as well), but they are necessary for survival.
Antibiotics are the number one inevitable disruptors of the microbiome. It’s been found that antibiotic use could reduce the abundance of 30% of the gut microbiome. More importantly, it can take months or even years for the microbiome to return to its original state (citation, citation).
Conventional chemotherapy could also result in severe disruptions in the microbiome. For example, one study of patients on chemotherapy showed a significant deleterious shift in the microbiome (citation), which accelerated pathogenic bacterial growth (e.g., E. coli) and increased the risk of gut infection.Perhaps the most severe implication of this shift is an increased rate of C. diff infection, something we discussed in the last section of part 1 of this blog piece. Higher C. diff infection rates have been reported following treatments with chemotherapy drugs like cisplatin and paclitaxel, among others.
However, while these changes are inevitable if you need to take certain medications, it is important to note that the benefits of these medications usually significantly outweigh their impact on your microbiome. So we identify these not as things to avoid, but instead as things to be aware of so that you can compensate for their effects by implementing a plant-rich diet and exercise with the guidance of your doctor.
When reading about diet and gut health, you will come across the term “probiotics.” While “prebiotics” are nutrients that microbes metabolize, the word “probiotics” refers to the microbes themselves. You can obtain probiotics from food sources – often fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, and kombucha – as well as probiotic supplements.
The probiotic supplement industry continues to grow, grossing over $40 billion per year. All of it falls under the broad definition of products that, when taken in adequate amounts, live organisms confer a health benefit to the host (citation). This definition is quite vague, and its breadth hides some significant drawbacks. In commercially available probiotics, we often see insufficient evidence of viability in the body, inadequate information about the species and strains being used, and consequences that include possible disruptive effects on the microbiome. We explain these problems in much greater detail in this article.
In short, the main problem is this: there is no consistent proof that probiotics promote a healthy microbiome.
The reason for the lack of promising results actually lies in the phrase “healthy microbiome.” Remember how, in part one, we emphasized that every microbiome is different?
Each person’s microbiome is extremely individual, so the response to a given microbe in a probiotic is likewise very individualized. Put another way, some probiotics could help some people some of the time, but there are no silver bullets or reliable or predictable responses between people or even within a single individual at different times (citation). That’s why we cannot expect a specific strain to have the same effect (or really any effect at all) on everyone.
Going back to our flea market analogy, you could imagine a visitor who is a large purchaser of furniture (maybe they are an interior designer?!) being a very valuable and important customer at a flea market that has lots of furniture vendors, but being completely useless at a flea market that focuses more heavily on clothes, jewelry, and toys. The idea that you could have a “super-spender” that just comes into any market, regardless of what they are selling, and just buys willy-nilly (essentially the premise of a universally beneficial probiotic) is not particularly likely.
In addition, some commercial probiotics may in fact do more harm than good, depending on the situation.
Recent cutting edge in vivo human studies demonstrated that probiotics could delay the restoration of your microbiome after antibiotics use (citation). This shouldn’t be surprising: taking a microbiome recently disrupted by antibiotics and bombarding it with probiotic bacteria that are not even part of a normal adult microbiome (most commercially available probiotic strains are not commonly found in large percentages in an adult microbiome) should not be expected to be good for you! It is a weird and flawed hypothesis, and the data confirms what we all should have expected from a simple thought experiment.
It is akin to bombing your lawn with weed killer and then sprinkling clover seeds everywhere, and then being surprised when your grass grows back more slowly because it has to compete with clovers now. Wouldn’t it make more sense to follow up that weed killer with fertilizer (i.e. prebiotics) that feeds the surviving grass to multiply again and re-cover your lawn?
Engineered Probiotics
All that being said, genetic engineering has opened a lot of doors to make probiotics more beneficial. By leveraging the bacteria’s natural ability to edit their own DNA (as we discuss in more detail here), scientists can now generate probiotic strains with specific functions, and it is these functions (and not the bacteria itself) that makes the genetically engineered probiotic useful. Probiotics produced this way could easily target specific pathogens or serve predetermined functions without disrupting the composition of the gut microbiome (citation).
ZBiotics is an example of how engineered probiotics could be used to execute a beneficial function. The gastrointestinal tract lacks the aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme to metabolize acetaldehyde, which accumulates in the gut after alcohol consumption, often causing unwanted effects that leave us miserable the next day. By genetically engineering probiotic bacteria to produce acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, we aim to improve the ability of the gut to metabolize acetaldehyde without disrupting the microbiota.
As stated in the previous section, it is unlikely that you’d get a “super-spender” that was just generally good for any and every flea market (which is essentially the current hypothesis behind probiotics). However, you could imagine a person who was trained to do a specific job really well whenever you needed it, such as sweeping up trash. You could drop this person off at any flea market, and if there was trash, they would sweep it up. If there wasn’t, then they’d just walk through the flea market and do nothing. Either way, if this person is present, then you can be sure there would be no trash on the ground, which is a good thing! Engineering probiotics is taking this same mentality, that a reliable function is what is important, rather than just something that is meant to be vaguely and non-specifically “good for you”.
We realize that we have given you a lot to digest. The main ideas we are trying to convey are that:
The gut microbiome is an extremely complex community, and while science has learned a lot about the microbiome in the last 20 years, we are still really just scratching the surface. But simply put, the age-old recommendations of a healthy and balanced diet, low stress, and regular exercise are the best way to support your gut health and achieve a healthy microbiome!
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute for and should never be relied upon for professional medical advice.
]]>The existence of good microbes is not news. You’ve probably heard that there are beneficial bacteria in your gut that help digestion. While that is certainly true, it is only the tip of the iceberg. Many of our bodily functions, sleep cycle, mood, and well-being depend on microbes that reside in multiple parts of the body, forming the human microbiome and even outnumbering our very own human cells.
The human microbiome is a hot topic with still a lot to discover, so it is challenging to find accurate information on what exactly the human microbiome does and why it is so important to our health. That’s why we’re tackling the topic of the microbiome in a two-part blog piece. This is part one.
This first part will provide a solid base about the significance of your microbiome, and part 2 will build on it with tips for achieving and maintaining a healthy microbiome.
Before diving in, here is a simple definition to get us started:
Microbiome: The whole collection of microbes, including all of their functions, interactions, and metabolites, occupying a defined habitat. It is essentially the whole microbial ecosystem in a given location or niche (citation).
When we say “your microbiome,” we mean the microbial ecosystem of your whole body. We can be more specific by identifying the microbiome in a particular part of your body, such as your “skin microbiome” – the microbial ecosystem on the surface of your skin. When just referring to the microbial cells themselves within the ecosystem of a microbiome, we might call them the 'microbiota' or the 'microbial flora’.
To illustrate how microbes interact with the human body, we’ll use an analogy. Picture a flea market with vendors and visitors. In this analogy, your human cells are the vendors and the microbes are the visitors.
The relationship between microbes and human cells is bidirectional, meaning they influence each other. Your human cells and your behavior influence what microbes take up residence, AND also (somewhat incredibly) the microbes that take up residence can affect your human cells and change your behavior (yes, you read that right… the microbes in your body can influence the decisions that you make)!
The collection of microbes that make up your microbiome depend on your unique body and your lifestyle (e.g. things like your diet, exercise, stress levels, and sleep), similar to each flea market drawing different visitors depending on which vendors are present, the type of stuff being sold, location, price range, and opening hours.
But those effects go both ways, so your microbiome influences your body, behavior, and even your decisions, too. Just like a flea market adapting to customer behavior and demand (e.g. by altering what it sells, what types of vendors are present, or extending its opening hours), your body is heavily influenced by your microbiome’s activity. This brings on changes in your immune system, skin, brain, mood, appetite, and so much more.
Considering the microbiome has a wide spectrum of effects on you, it’s not surprising that it is found in many parts of your body. Here, we discuss five of the most important locations: skin, mouth, lungs, vagina, and - the one you’re most likely to be familiar with - gut.
Skin: Being in constant contact with the outside world, the skin is undoubtedly one of the most microbiome-rich parts of the body, with greater numbers and a greater variety of bacteria than anywhere else besides the gut (citation). The skin microbiome not only regulates skin conditions like pH and moisture but also protects the skin against pathogens by producing bactericidal compounds, improving the skin’s immune response, and out-competing pathogens for nutrients. (citation).
Mouth: Protected by saliva, various microbes like bacteria and fungi adhere to the tissue in your mouth and flourish. In healthy individuals, they aid in the first steps of digestion, the protection of the mucosal barrier (i.e. the barrier between the inside of your body and the outside world), the detoxification of chemicals, and the fight against disease-promoting and bad-breath-causing microorganisms (citation).
Vagina: The vaginal microbiota is largely made up of bacteria, and especially Lactobacillus, which protect the vagina against pathogens by producing lactic acid and hydrogen peroxide (citation).
Lungs: The lung microbiome plays a critical role in maintaining lung health, both preventing inflammation and protecting the respiratory tract against pathogens by producing antibacterial substances and out-competing them for nutrients (citation).
Gut: Our familiarity with the gut microbiome is not coincidental, because the gut is, quite frankly, the trendiest spot of the flea market, with hundreds of species of bacteria and other microorganisms. In particular, the colon (part of the gut) has the highest microbial density of any habitat in the body, with 1012 cells per one gram of intestinal content (citation).
The gut microbiome serves several tasks, the most salient one being the fermentation of non-digestible dietary fibers. The resulting short-chain fatty acids have significant effects on our health, such as cardiometabolic regulation, lipid and vitamin (mainly B and K) production, and even liver signaling of gluconeogenesis and hunger/satiation (citation).
But the gut microbiome does much more than digestion. Just one mind-blowing example is its effects on your behavior and mood. This is demonstrated in several animal studies, which have found that mice with no microbiome (called “germ-free mice”) are less social (citation), have poorer memory (citation), and respond more poorly to stress (citation) than mice with microbiomes that were otherwise genetically identical.
Not surprisingly, your appetite can be affected by the gut microbiome. If you experience out-of-the-blue food cravings, you might blame it on different microbes in your gut requiring different food sources for growth, such as Provatella needing carbohydrates and Bacteriodetes needing fats (citation).
These bacteria and others can signal your body when a particular nutrient source is absent. They do so by producing peptide molecules that mimic your appetite-regulating hormones (citation), triggering cravings.
By that logic, constant cravings for sugar might be the result of an overgrowth of specific bacteria that need sugar for energy – an overgrowth that was first caused by an overconsumption of sugar. If you give in to the craving, it feeds and allows further out-growth of these sugar-craving bacteria, which in turn give you more cravings for sugar. This can create a positive feedback loop that is very hard to break!
You probably have come across articles recommending a balanced diet for a healthy microbiome, but that message will make much more sense if you know what a healthy microbiome looks like.
A healthy microbiome is not necessarily about certain “silver bullet” beneficial bacteria; it rather refers to a vast diversity of microbes that carry out myriad functions in a balanced and meaningful way. You might think that human cells are enough to perform these functions, but they only express ~30,000 genes, as opposed to the millions of genes expressed by the human microbiome (citation). If you think about each gene encoding a different function, you can imagine the staggering capacity of functions a microbiome has.
One indicator of a healthy microbiome is its diversity, which has two aspects: richness and evenness. Richness refers to how many different types of microbes you have, while evenness concerns the balance between the numbers of each type.
Two people both with 100 different types of microbes have the same richness. However, if one of those two people has 95% of their microbiome made up of just one of those types and the other 99 types making up the other 5%, that is a very uneven microbiome. Studies confirm that both richness and evenness are equally important for a healthy microbiome and, consequently, a disease-free state (citation).
To get a better picture, let’s go back to the flea market. If your flea market has different vendors offering many different types of merchandise (e.g. furniture, tools, jewelry, clothes, plants, home goods, toys, etc.), but most of your customers only come shopping for furniture, your market would struggle. Not only will you fall short of providing furniture for everyone, since only a fraction of your vendors offer furniture, but also your other vendors won’t generate any revenue. On the other hand, a market with sufficient numbers of visitors in every section will be much better at sustaining itself.
The same is true in your microbiome. You have many functions that need doing, and if you have too much of one type of microbe, then your microbiome will be unbalanced and less functional, which can impact your health.
Diseases are often associated with certain microbes (e.g. E. coli causes food poisoning, S. aureus causes skin infections, etc.), but interestingly, many of these microbes reside in all of us at all times, interacting with our cells and other bacteria in an equilibrium. Therefore, a more accurate approach is to relate diseases to disturbances in microbiome diversity and balance (i.e. richness and evenness).
Imagine one of the visitors to our flea market has a tendency to litter. They walk around the market buying things, but they drop their trash everywhere. Luckily, some other visitors don’t like seeing trash, so they end up picking up the trash. However, if the littering visitor were to visit a different market that has no cleaning visitors, the litter will accumulate and badly affect the reputation and appeal of the market.
Similarly, we all have microbes that “litter” all the time. However, they actually perform very important functions and are part of a healthy microbiome. Yet, we depend on other microbes to clean up after them and make sure they don’t create problems.
One example many of us may have experienced is acne, associated with the bacteria C. acnes. Healthy skin has both commensal (beneficial) and pathogenic (harmful) strains of C. acnes. The commensal strains protect the skin against other unwanted visitors by regulating the pH, while the pathogenic strains are inhibited by another bacteria called S. epidermidis. Although patients with acne do not harbor more C. acnes on the whole than those with healthy skin, disturbances in the skin microbiome can interrupt the equilibrium between C. acnes and other skin bacteria (like S. epidermidis). As a result, pathogenic strains of C. acnes can be activated, growing and causing red bumps and zits by promoting sebaceous gland inflammation (citation).
Another unpleasant example is Clostridioides difficile (C. diff), a culprit behind intestinal infection, gut inflammation, and diarrhea, among other things. Although this bacteria is very common and many people are naturally exposed to it, its proliferation and toxicity in the gut are suppressed by a healthy microbiome (citation).
When the diversity in our gut is disrupted – say, because of antibiotics or an unhealthy diet – it gives C. diff room to grow and wreak havoc. Today, the recurrence of C. diff infections is considered evidence of an unhealthy microbiome, but it is still not clear what specific bacteria are required to inhibit C. diff activity.
The effect of an unhealthy microbiome on C. diff infections, as well as our lack of understanding, becomes much more apparent in the clinical approach to this disease. Transferring a healthy gut microbiome sample into a patient suffering from C. diff results in that patient developing resistance from future C. diff infections. This is done in a crude (and kind of gross) way called a fecal transplant, by taking a fecal sample (and in essence, the entire microbiome) from the healthy person and implanting it directly into the colon of the patient (citation).
It demonstrates the importance of a healthy microbiome, while also showing how little we know about its specifics. If we had more insight, we could have just isolated the key protective bacteria, and delivered it as a pill. Instead, since we don’t, we just take the whole thing and transfer it over! This is similar to selecting 100 people randomly from a popular flea market – some of which are the folks who pick up litter – into your litter-covered market. Because you didn’t know which ones were the cleaners, you had to bring in as many people as possible to make sure you get the right folks that address the problem.
Acne and gut inflammation are only two examples of a long list of cases. If you look at the disease mechanisms of diabetes, obesity, and depression, you are going to encounter similar stories.
The microbiome is central to human health, with its impact reaching nearly every system of the body in some way. For the past decade, the scientific community has made rapid progress in understanding the microbiome, and that progress isn't slowing down. But while the microbiome is absolutely the next frontier of health and performance, we are still just scratching the surface of what there is to be known. And currently, there are no universal "silver bullets" that reliably move your microbiome in a way that benefits your body. But as our understanding grows, the microbiome will doubtless become an incredible lever for improving human health.
In part two of our microbiome series, we are going to give actionable insights into what you can do to protect the integrity and diversity of your microbiome.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute for and should never be relied upon for professional medical advice.
]]>If you are familiar with ZBiotics’ flavor, you know that until July of 2021, it had a mild and earthy flavor with no aftertaste. That was by design. The product naturally had no flavor (or the flavor of water, to be more precise), but we added some natural flavors reminiscent of the ubiquitous earthy environment that our B. subtilis probiotic bacteria come from.
However, with our newest batches of ZBiotics since July of this year, there is a new bitter aftertaste. This is not due to us changing any ingredients or the formulation at all, but instead due to a change in our manufacturing process. We wanted to write up a quick explanation for why and how the change occurred, in case our customers have questions.
In short, we switched to using a method of concentrating our probiotic bacteria that uses heat (spray-drying) instead of cold (freeze-drying). While this heat does not affect the probiotic, it did enhance the bitter flavor of one of the residual amino acids from our fermentation process (specifically lysine – a natural and essential amino acid found in basically any food that contains protein), giving the product a bitter taste.
As we scaled up our processes to meet demand we switched from freeze-drying to spray-drying as the method to dry our probiotic for shipping and storage. Spray-drying is faster and suitable for large volumes, which helps us keep ZBiotics in stock and available. Spray-drying uses a small amount of heat to remove the last amount of water from our concentrated probiotic after fermentation. This heat is just enough to remove the water, but not so hot that it damages our probiotic. We did lots of testing to verify this before switching over.
This heat from the spray-drying is enough to affect the small amounts of amino acids that remain from fermentation.
At ZBiotics we grow our probiotic B. subtilis on a vegan protein source made from yeast extract that contains lots of amino acids, among other things. When B. subtilis grows in fermentation it consumes most of the amino acids as a food source. However, B. subtilis doesn’t use all amino acids equally. It is known to leave some behind, including histidine, valine, methionine, leucine, and – most importantly for this story – lysine (citation).
Lysine is the amino acid remaining in the highest concentration (almost 56% remains!), and while most amino acids have neutral or umami flavors, lysine can impart a bitter taste. Furthermore, this bitterness is increased when the mixture is heated, as is the case during spray-drying. A study looking at the causes of bitterness from amino acids from yeast extract found that lysine was one of the main causes after heating (citation).
In that study, taste testers could detect bitterness with just 1.3 mg/L of lysine present. An analysis of our process shows that as much as 8.44 mg/L lysine could be present after the active ingredient has been formulated in final bottles. This is 6.5x above the detection limit, so we would expect most drinkers to detect the flavor, and indeed they do.
It is important to note that while lysine tastes bitter, it is an extremely common and essential amino acid, and thus poses no health risks or other issues beyond the taste. If you’ve eaten food today, then you’ve almost assuredly consumed lysine. Furthermore, we have extensively tested the product from these new batches that use spray-drying, and the ability of the bacteria to break down acetaldehyde is not affected at all. It performs as well as – if not slightly better than – previous batches. So while the flavor has changed, nothing else about the product has.
This part of the story of ZBiotics may only be around for a short time as we continue to improve delivery of the world’s first genetically engineered probiotics, so experience it while you can! You are participating in a little piece of ZBiotics history!
]]>In part 1 and part 2, we looked at how our bodies metabolize and are affected by alcohol. Now, let’s talk about how to enjoy alcohol while still being able to feel good the next day.
Alcohol has a number of undesirable effects, but it remains both a common element of our social interactions and an integral part of many cultures worldwide. When we choose to drink, doing so mindfully – in ways that support our bodies’ ability to handle alcohol – allows us to enjoy it while still waking up fresh and well-rested the day after.
So what are some ways to drink mindfully? Here are some essential practices to support your body when drinking alcohol:
Setting yourself up for a great next day after drinking starts before your first drink. You’ve probably heard the advice not to drink on an empty stomach. It’s good advice and it’s based on sound science. Having some food in your stomach before you start drinking will reduce the rate of alcohol absorption into your blood and reduce peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC). This reduction gives your liver time to process that alcohol more efficiently, resulting in you feeling better the day after.
In an illustrative clinical study, those who ate light and heavy meals before drinking saw 28% and 65% reductions in their peak BACs compared to those drinking on an empty stomach (citation). Another study delved further into the matter and discovered that – in addition to lowering peak BAC – eating before drinking boosted the rate of ethanol disposal. The removal of alcohol from the blood was 36-50% faster when food was taken before drinking (citation).
You might wonder what type of food is the most effective in slowing down alcohol intoxication. According to some comparative studies, meals high in carbohydrates and fat had the most inhibitory effect, followed by protein rich-meals (citation).
Not only will food slow the rate of alcohol absorption, which gives your liver time to process that alcohol more efficiently, but it will also lower the concentration of alcohol in your intestines at any given time. This helps to reduce gut irritation caused by alcohol and acetaldehyde, one more reason eating before drinking helps you feel better the day after.
This last point brings up another way to prepare ahead of time for a night of drinks: drink ZBiotics® before you start drinking. We’ve covered this on our product page and in the first part of our Alcohol 101 series, but here’s a quick recap...
Alcohol (i.e., ethanol) gets metabolized in two parts of the body. The liver converts most of the alcohol in your bloodstream into acetaldehyde, and then into acetate (essentially vinegar). However, a small amount of alcohol is metabolized in the gut before it can be absorbed into the bloodstream. While the gut can carry out the first reaction to form acetaldehyde (citation), it lacks sufficient amounts of the enzyme that catalyzes the acetaldehyde-acetate conversion. The result: a continuous buildup of acetaldehyde in the gut (citation).
This acetaldehyde accumulation can cause chaos in your body and ruin your next day. So what role does ZBiotics play? The probiotic in the ZBiotics drink is specifically engineered (further elaborated in our science page) to produce the same type of acetaldehyde-to-acetate enzyme as your liver – the enzyme that breaks down acetaldehyde.
Don’t leave anything up to chance when it comes to alcohol. One of the first things to be impaired when you become intoxicated is your judgment. As illustrated by functional imaging studies, acute alcohol intoxication hinders the functioning of particular regions of the brain associated with error processing and cognitive control: the anterior cingulate cortex, the lateral prefrontal cortex, and the parietal brain region (citation).
With that in mind, you should arrange for responsible behaviors ahead of time. You might want to get spontaneous while drinking, but planning your night in advance can save your next day from misery (and, more importantly, keep you safe):
The more drinks you intend to have, the more critical this planning ahead becomes.
This might sound contradictory to what we have previously stated many times about the “alcohol causes dehydration” myth. The bottom line here is that while alcohol does not cause dehydration, drinking water is still a good idea for a whole different set of reasons.
Not only does it help you space out your drinks a little more (and we will explain the benefits of spacing out next), but it also supports your kidneys and liver as they work overtime to metabolize ethanol. Think of water as a detoxifying flushing mechanism that aids the movement and filtering of ethanol and its metabolites through the liver and the kidneys. Drinking water helps maintain a high blood volume, which ensures that alcohol metabolism is carried out as efficiently as possible, without interruption.
Your liver can process alcohol at a rate of 0.15 g ethanol/L per hour (citation, table 3.7), which is about equal to between 0.5-1.0 standard American drinks. This means that the faster you drink, the longer your body will be exposed to ethanol and acetaldehyde before the liver can process them.
For example, four drinks spaced over four hours will only see your BAC reach a maximum level of about 2 drinks, because your body is able to process a good amount of the alcohol in one drink before you consume the next one. However, four drinks in one hour will see your BAC spike, and it won’t drop down to the equivalent of 2 drinks (the maximum in the slower drinking scenario) for 3-4 hours (citation).
To put it another way, though you may drink the exact same amount of alcohol, if you drink it all quickly you will be exposed to higher levels of toxic/inflammatory molecules for a longer period of time. That period of time could be several hours while your body catches up and brings those levels down to what they would have been if you had paced yourself.
As noted previously in Alcohol 101 Part 2, alcohol in your brain interferes with your neurotransmitters and disrupts the duration of your sleep stages (especially during the second half of the night), particularly reducing your total REM sleep (citation). It gets worse; because alcohol causes muscle relaxation in the airways, it triggers obstructive sleep apnea, leading to unusual breathing and snoring, which will decrease your sleep quality further (citation). So, it is no surprise that drinking just before bed causes daytime sleepiness and performance impairment the next day (citation).
The best way to combat these issues is to have as little alcohol as possible in your system when you go to bed. To that end, it’s incredibly helpful to stop drinking earlier, giving your body plenty of time to metabolize any alcohol in your system before bedtime. Assuming your drinks are generally evenly spaced throughout the night, then here’s a helpful equation to follow:
That’s a little complicated, so here’s a quick example. If you plan to have 4 drinks in a night and you want to go to bed at midnight, you should start drinking at least 6 hours (4 drinks * 1.5 = 6 hours) before you need to go to bed: so start drinking at 6pm. In addition, you should stop drinking at least 2 hours before you go to bed: so stop drinking at 10pm.
To see why it matters to stop drinking earlier, consider the following comparison... If you have four drinks from 10pm-2am and go to bed right away, you probably won’t be clear of that alcohol until 5 or 6am. While the sedating effect could help you fall asleep faster, your sleep will see frequent awakenings as your BAC declines. Waking up at 9am, you will feel like you only had 3-4 hours of sleep.
On the other hand, if you stopped drinking an hour or two earlier, you might feel a little under-rested, but mostly well off. With four drinks from 8pm-12am, and going to bed at 2am, you’ll likely have all the alcohol out of your system by 2 or 3am, meaning you’re more likely to get 6-7 hours of quality sleep.
A lot of complex biochemical reactions take place in your body when you drink, many of which you have very little control over. While the lack of sleep is one of the major drivers of a miserable next day, getting rest is also one of the things you can actually control with a little prior planning.
Closely related to the previous point, in addition to quality sleep, make sure you also schedule enough time to get an adequate quantity of sleep. This is particularly critical if you have scheduled plans for the next day. If you have to attend an event at 10:00am, back-calculate when you need to go to bed to get enough sleep (7-9 hours). Then, you can figure out when to stop drinking so that those are quality hours of sleep and that you wake up feeling fresh.
Alcohol can change the levels of serotonin and other neurotransmitters in your brain, causing you to initially feel more confident and relaxed. However, once alcohol wears off, anxiety can surface. Physical symptoms and possible feelings of guilt can exacerbate that anxiety, as demonstrated in studies of social drinking among students (citation). In fact, this alcohol-induced anxiety can last for up to 16 hours (citation). Such anxiety can cause you to flake on things like events, chores, and workouts you had planned for the next day..
Instead of spending all day on the couch, getting on with your day – even if a bit painful at first – will significantly reduce your overall misery. Follow through with your plans, and make sure you maintain normal routines like exercise, outdoor weekend activities, and chores. This will help you reclaim your chemical balance by boosting endorphin release in a healthy way.
If the events of 2020 taught us anything, it is that every day is precious, and time is valuable. In the post-pandemic world, we’re all going to want to be able to socialize and drink one night while filling the next day with good work and joyful activities.. Think of all that we have to look forward to: from concerts, drinks with friends, and dinner parties to traveling, seeing colleagues, and even just going to the gym. Now is no time for wasting an entire day on the couch just because you had a few drinks with friends the night before.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be a tradeoff between one night out vs. an entire day (or, worse still, weekend). By bringing in mindful action, planning, plenty of rest, and a sense of self-care, you can find that balance where you can enjoy the benefits of drinking with friends and still wake up able to dive into those activities you had planned.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute for and should never be relied upon for professional medical advice.
At ZBiotics, we talk a lot about bioengineering because we are passionate about the potential of this technology and all the good it can do for the planet. While we do not want to underestimate the very reasonable concerns regarding the potential risks of using bioengineering for the wrong reasons or in irresponsible ways, we know that with a careful, leveled approach, this technology can immeasurably improve the world.
In honor of Earth Day, we thought we’d highlight some of the truly incredible things that bioengineering is doing right now to help humans live more sustainably on this planet.
By leveraging microorganisms – such as bacteria and yeast – to create ingredients and industrial products in mass quantities, organizations are creating new solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, limit waste, and lessen the strain we put on our planet. Here are some downright mind-blowing solutions, organized into four broad categories:
By the time you finish reading this paragraph, four acres of rainforests in Brazil (i.e. about three football fields) will be replaced with farmland, largely to grow cattle and animal feed (satellite data). Livestock farming is much more demanding on the planet than many realize. It requires converting huge areas of critical carbon sinks (such as the Amazon rainforests) into cattle farms, which produce rather than sequester greenhouse gases. That land and those carbon-sequestering forests are forever lost to us.
Today, many bioengineering companies are aiming to reduce animal use with technology. This will decrease the need to devote such vast farmlands and tremendous resources to livestock. Through engineered microbes, these companies produce alternatives to animal products, such as meat, dairy, eggs, leather, gelatin, and collagen.
An early but still incredible example of biotechnology saving the planet is Genentech. As the pioneers of recombinant DNA technology, Genentech made insulin much more accessible to people with diabetes by producing human insulin using bacteria instead of animals.
They did this by expressing human genes in bacteria for the first time. The synthetic human insulin they produced in 1978 was a breakthrough, because it meant that we no longer needed to extract insulin from the animal pancreas to treat diabetics. Prior to that, it took 23,500 animals to produce one pound of insulin, while we can now yield the same amount with bacteria in a fermenter approximately the size of your refrigerator.
You’ve probably heard of Impossible Foods, the company making better veggie burgers using bioengineered yeast. They do so by engineering yeast to produce a key ingredient called soy leghemoglobin, which gives their burgers that signature meaty flavor and makes them “bleed.”
An Impossible Burger uses 87% less water and produces 89% fewer greenhouse gases than a traditional burger. With 90% of their customers being meat-eaters, that’s a lot of meat being swapped out for their more eco-friendly option.
How can you wear leather without raising or killing a single cow? With this question in mind, Modern Meadow created a bio-leather product called Zoa. Similar to Genentech, genetic engineering played a significant role; scientists altered yeast to produce collagen, the animal protein that is the main component of leather.
The end product generates 80% less greenhouse gas than traditional leather and 30% less than several conventional synthetic materials. And due to the fact that it’s easier to control a growing cell culture than the growing skin of a live cow, this yeast-based process can actually produce higher quality leather, an amazing fact not lost on visitors who saw Zoa featured in an exhibit at New York’s MoMA a couple years ago.
Similar to raising animals, growing plants creates a huge environmental impact.
It requires a tremendous amount of water and nutrients. According to the World Bank, agriculture accounts for 70% of all freshwater withdrawals globally, a ratio that’s only going to increase – to an estimated 85% – as the population grows and agricultural production rises to meet it (by an estimated 50% before 2050).
In addition, clearing huge swaths of land for plant agriculture reduces biodiversity and contributes dramatically to greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion, and pollution.
Here too, though, bioengineering is making a difference. Some companies have engineered microorganisms to produce plant-based resources. Because these microbes can grow in bioreactors, they take much less space for growth. And through bioreactor process optimization, the yield of the biological processes they perform can be maximized without compromising natural ecosystems.
One such company is Amyris, which uses bioengineered yeast to produce anti-malarial compounds more efficiently and effectively than traditional agriculture. Indeed, if it weren’t for Amyris, malaria treatment would be nowhere near as widely available as it is today.
Every year, 200 million people are affected by malaria. The primary first-line treatment for malaria, according to WHO, is an antimalarial compound called artemisinin. Unfortunately, obtaining artemisinin from plants – specifically, the Chinese Sweet Wormwood plant – is challenging because the artemisinin content is usually very low (varying between 0.01-0.50% dry weight (citation)), making cultivation difficult, time consuming, and resource-intensive.
In 2005, Amyris tackled this issue by engineering yeast to produce the drug instead (citation). Using this strategy, Amyris and their partner Sanofi treated 120 million malaria patients in one year. It’s an incredible example of bioengineering at work. Thanks to Amyris’ technology, we no longer have to rely on resource-intensive wormwood cultivation to produce this important therapeutic compound.
Like therapeutic compounds, flavor extraction from plants is quite resource intensive, due to the fact that the flavor compound constitutes only a small weight percentage of the plant. Consequently, to obtain a plant-based flavor, we have traditionally needed to spend a large amount of resources growing all the non-flavor portions of the plant as well.
An example from the brewing industry is the hop plant, a water-intensive plant used by brewers to impart flavor to beer.
Berkeley Brewing Science has bioengineered yeast to directly impart those same hop-like flavors without having to add actual hops. Not only does this give the brewer increased control over the flavor of the beer, but it also reduces the environmental impact of the brewing process by eliminating the need to grow, harvest, and transport hops.
Today, the company uses the same technology to produce beer and wine with a touch of flavors such as pineapple, mango, and melon. By determining the key compounds in plants, they insert the corresponding genes into their yeast strain to create the same fruit flavor, but without having to grow the fruit. Overall, it’s a good example of how genetic engineering and microbes can replace the need to grow a whole plant.
Palm oil is ubiquitous and growing. Indeed, US imports of palm oil grew 485% over the last decade (citation). You can understand how abundant it is by paying attention at the supermarket, where you’ll find palm oil in roughly 50% of all products on the shelf, from soaps to lipstick to ice cream. Palm oil also happens to be one of the leading causes of tropical rainforest deforestation, destroying ecosystems and contributing significantly to climate change.
To address this problem, C16 Biosciences is bioengineering yeast to make palm oil in a fermenter producing the oil inside yeast cells instead of in a palm tree. This may end up eliminating the need for commercial palm-oil plantations, which today cover about 18.7 million hectares of land worldwide – about the size of the state of Missouri (citation). Imagine reallocating all that land to reforestation instead. Bioengineering makes that future possible.
From manufacturing to packaging, industrial processes have been incredibly successful at producing materials to make our lives easier. Yet, in the process, we heavily rely on chemistry that takes a huge toll on the environment, primarily by generating harmful and nonrenewable waste products. Over time, these waste products diffuse into the soil and surrounding water system, poisoning the ecosystem.
Today, we’re seeing organizations working to find ways to replace these harmful chemical processes with more sustainable microbiological solutions.
Nitrogen fertilizers are responsible for an astounding 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That’s largely due to fertilizer runoff into local water sources, which causes toxic and polluting algal blooms.
Joyn Bio is tackling this massive environmental problem by creating genetically engineered bacteria that reduce the need for nitrogen fertilizers. These bacteria “fix” atmospheric nitrogen in a form that allows plants to use it, with no toxic runoff. Certain plants like soybeans already worked this way – partnering with natural, nitrogen-fixing bacteria. But Joyn Bio is extending that functionality to previously incompatible cereal crops like corn, rice, and wheat.
What if all packing materials and foams were made of mushrooms? That question sounds ridiculous, but amazingly it is already becoming a reality.
Typical packaging materials are petroleum or animal-based and unsustainable, especially because they lead to the accumulation of highly non-degradable waste. Ecovative is using a thread-like fungal growth structure called mycelium to make textiles and foams for everything from purses to foam applicators for cosmetics. By growing mycelia to make these highly functional products, Ecovative is making a truly disposable, biodegradable product that eliminates both the unsustainable manufacturing practices of current foams and textiles and also the essentially non-degradable waste that piles up in our landfills from these “disposable” products.To improve the production outcome, the company partnered with the Cornell igEM research team, who used genetic engineering to give the fungi resistance to contaminating mold species.
This upgrade could make fungi-based materials more competitive and feasible than their less sustainable alternatives.
The conventional dyes in your clothes are often highly toxic, including the indigo blue in your jeans. It requires 1,000 pounds of petroleum to produce one pound of dye. In addition, fixing the dye requires harsh chemicals like cyanide and formaldehyde. These contribute heavily to the toxicity of textile industry wastewater – about 2.5 billion gallons of which gets released annually into the environment by market-leading textile makers. For example, the International Garment Processors (IGP) plant in El Paso, TX generates one million gallons of wastewater per day! (citation)
Huue makes sustainable indigo blue with the motto nature is the best artist. Investigating how sugar got naturally converted to dye, the Huue team engineered microbes that mimicked the process. The team predicts that biosynthetic indigo could reduce the use of petroleum and the release of toxic chemicals by a factor of five.
Currently, humanity produces roughly 40 gigatons of CO2 per year, and that number is growing. Without carbon-negative measures (i.e. activities that actively remove carbon) global temperatures will increase to levels that will cause catastrophic changes to the environment. Reducing carbon emissions alone is not enough anymore, and active sequestration and removal of greenhouse gases are needed.
Incredibly, we can genetically engineer microbes to actually pull greenhouse gases – such as CO2 and methane – from the air (when that air is bubbled through water) and use them as building blocks to make useful products. This not only actively removes those greenhouse gases from our atmosphere but also creates sustainable, useful, carbon-negative products such as bioplastics that would otherwise be created via unsustainable petroleum-based practices.
Up until the establishment of Mango Materials, turning pollution into sustainable products was a far-fetched idea. No longer. The bioreactors created by Mango Materials capture methane (a greenhouse gas that traps 25x more heat than CO2 (citation)) and use bacterial fermentation to turn that methane into a biodegradable polymer called polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). This biopolymer can be used to replace all sorts of plastic or polymer-based products, such as electronics casings, toys, bottles, and packaging. Not only are they preventing greenhouse gases from warming our planet, but they are also turning them into products that replace unsustainable and ecologically damaging plastics.
Right now, a salmon farm primarily feeds their salmon on smaller fish caught in the ocean – 300 billion of these fish each year, actually. This has resulted in massive overfishing of small feed-fish, causing a huge deficit in a key stratum of the marine food chain. Another concern is that this feeding method can result in the accumulation of toxic materials in the salmon itself – materials like polybrominated diphenyl ether (citation), which is strongly associated with cancer when consumed by humans (citation).
NovoNutrients solves this problem by providing a nutritious and non-toxic feedstock for farmed fish that doesn’t require overfishing AND removes CO2 from the atmosphere. Similar to Mango Materials, NovoNutrients captures industrial waste gas and uses microbes to convert CO2 into biomass that can be used as fish feed. This solves two problems at once: (1) it prevents the CO2 accumulation in the atmosphere, and (2) it generates a fish feed that is far more sustainable than what we currently use to feed farmed fish.
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but merely some illustrative examples of things that are happening right now in bioengineering. It provides us with a path to reset the damage we’ve done for the last century and grow sustainably while reducing our strain on the environment and the global ecosystem.
There are many things we need to do, but bioengineering is an incredibly powerful tool we can leverage in righting the wrongs humanity has done to this planet with agriculture and industrial chemistry. Bioengineering often gets a bad rap, but when used responsibly and for the right reasons – as in the examples above – it can be such an incredible asset for the world.
]]>There are 2 primary reasons why we sold out:
Mid-last year, the manufacturing partner we had been working with to produce our proprietary engineered probiotic – B. subtilis ZB183™ – shifted work at their facility to COVID-19 vaccine development. That was great for the world, but it meant that we had to find a new partner to help us produce ZB183, the key ingredient in ZBiotics.
That wasn’t easy. We use the same fermentation-based manufacturing process that the pharmaceutical industry uses to produce advanced therapeutics. And we're perfectionists, so we require high levels of expertise, extensive testing, and tight quality controls to ensure we're delivering a good product. Also, because ZB183 is so new and exclusive to ZBiotics, we can’t just buy it off the shelf from another supplier.
But thankfully, our search was successful. Over the past seven months, we’ve found and onboarded not one but two new, amazing manufacturing partners for ZB183 to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude. After extensive testing and onboarding, two weeks ago we received the first batch of newly manufactured ZB183 ingredient, quality-tested and ready to put into bottles. But just when we thought we were out of the woods, the same thing happened to our bottling partner that’s been happening to thousands of companies across the country...
Our bottling partner experienced a COVID-19 outbreak at their facility. Despite extensive precautions, many of their core team-members contracted the disease, bringing production plans to a halt.
At the time, the only thing that really mattered was that these people we’d worked with for years were fighting to get through it, and we were hoping and praying for them just as we are for everyone who encounters this terrible disease. In that context – and in the context of all the suffering and loss that’s already come from this pandemic – our own interests were of absolutely no consequence. Thankfully, since we wrote the original version of this blog post, the people there have all recovered, and while in some cases there are lingering effects, such as lost taste and smell, everybody is safe, which is all that matters.
During our search for new manufacturing partners, we shut down digital advertising for ZBiotics. We wanted to hold on to what material we had in order to meet the demand from our incredible base of loyal customers.
Still, though, pausing digital ads for over half a year wasn’t enough to avoid where we were in March. At the beginning of the year, we expected to have enough bottles on hand to keep our previous customers supplied until well into the spring.
But it was a busy few months. Word apparently was getting out, and we experienced an unexpected spike in demand from new customers discovering us for the first time. This was awesome and exciting, and we’re so grateful to our customers for spreading the word. In addition, holidays, celebrations, and cozy nights inside didn’t stop, so we saw demand from our current customers continue to rise as well.
All that unexpected demand meant we woke up one week in March to a nearly complete run on our stock, forcing us to temporarily stop taking new orders.
While we’re back in stock now and hope never to face this situation again, we know that going out of stock was a frustration for many people. We want to thank you for your patience. For those of you who are not yet our customers, we are so sorry to make you wait longer to experience ZBiotics for the first time.
For those of you who were our customers already, we hated not being there for you. You are incredible people. Truly, you are an inspiring, fun, and straight-up impressive group of folks. Learning your stories and hearing about how ZBiotics helps you get more out of life is the highlight of every single day. Not being there felt terrible, and we’re working to make sure it never happens again.
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