There are plenty of medical conditions that necessitate dietary changes (Celiac's, Diabetes, etc.) and it's a hassle for the affected individual and/or primary caregiver to manage cooking with restrictions like gluten-free or lactose-free ingredients. MyFoodMyHealth is a startup with the self-stated mission of 'helping you feel better by eating deliciously'. They provide meal plans, recipes,...
Online communities are perhaps the cornerstone of web these days, and I'm begining to find so many of them related to health that I'm slowly running out of things to say around the topic. DailyStrength.org is a place for patients/family members to find others like them and anonymously connect, share and discuss all aspects of a particular disease or condition. From discussing the latest...
Your doctor may not think of it that way, but some advertisers feel that the time you spend in the waiting room is important. Phreesia offers 'PhreesiaPad': a wireless-enabled touch screen device that replaces the traditional forms-on-a-clipboard you get handed when visiting your doctor. The idea is that patients enter their information (age, insurance, complaint, history etc.) via its...
Since my last rant was around twitter, I thought I'll follow up with another one around same topic. First notable thing about FoodFeed is that its not really useful (their own words, not mine). Its a service that lets you share your eating habits on twitter. They are still in beta so maybe other features are in pipeline, but honestly, FoodFeed seems to be a solution looking for a problem. So...
Google.org's flutrend is an attempt to model flu activity across US based on the search terms that Google.com users enter around flu symptoms, treatment etc. The underlying premise is that there is a relationship between how many people search for flu-related topics and how many people have flu symptoms. Think of it as a virtual public health surveillance proxy. If you are not convinced that...
OrganizedWisdom describes itself as the first human-powered, doctor-guided search service for health. What the site promises to provide are noise-free, simple but organized search pages that list relevant information on health topics. Its a crowdsourcing model at heart- these pages are essentially hand-crafted search results aggregated by OrganizedWisdom Guides and Physician Reviewers (eligible...
Fitbit is a startup trying to leverage the rising wellness trend- they manufacture a small device that you can wear throughout the day to find out how much physical activity you did, how well you slept etc. The tiny device sells for $99 and contains a motion sensor (like the Nintendo Wii) that converts 3D motion data into useful interpretations about your lifestyle. In a 7-day period, whenever...
I'm not a fan of direct to consumer genetic testing, but that market is hard to ingore now. deCODEme (excellent name choice, btw) will analyze your genetic information, store it securely and provide you with updates on your genetic profile "as new knowledge becomes available in the field". There is no doubt that our genes hold valuable information that can help predict and treat diseases. There...
Another consumer-oriented concept. This one is specifically for patients on multiple medications who are curious to find out how they interact and what side-effects are related to which. DoubleCheckMD is an offering by a Cambridge, MA-based company called Enhanced Medical Decisions, founded by a physician from Harvard. It provides information around drug-drug interaction (including OTC, Vitamins...
Pain is a subjective symptom that is often hard to correctly diagnose and treat on long-term basis. It's the focus of ReliefInsite- an online web diary for patients with chronic pain. The idea is first to provide a simple platform to record and store pain-related data and provide easy-to-interpret analysis to patients. Secondly, this enables a longitudinal insight for providers into the key...