Health nerds, health freaks and biohackers rejoice, Thriva has arrived. For £39 per test , Thriva will analyse your blood numbers and give you an idea of how your health is holding up. Resident meathead and aspiring awesome wholesome person Jack puts it to the test. There will be BLOOD….
What is it?
Thriva are an exciting preventative health tech startup with a bold mission: “…make it easy and affordable for people to gain access to the data that really matters – helping them detect issues early and take action before it’s too late. Thriva let’s {SIC} you take control so that you can manage your health proactively”.
Though no panacea, the type of data that Thriva offers really does provide you with insights on the state of your health. Of course, just taking Thriva’s test isn’t going to fix all of your problems, it’s up to you to do something about the data they give you. Such is life.
Anyway, this is Thriva’s ‘baseline test’ – their basic test, and like all the others, one that you complete at home then mail back to them (via freepost). Thriva then analyse your blood sample to provide you a range of results that give you an indicator of your overall health. With their guidance, you can use this to analyse and improve the state of your health by changing your habits.
It’s a quarterly subscription – and you can change the test date, pause or cancel at any time.
Thriva are jumping some rather timely trends in the health tech space – one being ’connected healthcare’ – which, according to wikipedia, ‘ maximises healthcare resources and provides increased, flexible opportunities for consumers to engage with clinicians and better self-manage their care.‘.
This ties to the growing interest in people using data to improve their individual health (think self proclaimed ‘biohackers’ and the Quantified Self movement).
How much does it cost?
£39 per test – you are supposed to take one test every 3 months
Where is it available?
Online, from Thriva
Appeals to:
Health conscious, tech savvy and data driven early adaptors who may or may not identify with the Quantified Self movement and/or ‘biohacking’.
High performance type folks looking for insights on how to improve the performance of their bodies, and consequentially the quality of their lives.
Detail oriented people, anyone who is sick of NHS waiting times or how much it costs to get this kind of health information privately in the UK.
In a word:
Experimental
The Good:
It really does provide information that you can use to improve your health, and by extension, your life.
Though using your blood numbers to make better decisions is nothing new, Thriva is significantly cheaper and more streamlined than doing this privately in the UK. No waiting in clinics, or for appointments. Results come back quickly and are clearly explained.
No needles involved (OK, so lancets are technically needles – but y’know…without the deimos and phobos).
The Bad:
It can be difficult to draw the right amount of blood (or at least was for me.)
If you want to test this regularly (say every month), it could get expensive. That said, there’s few things more expensive than being chronically sick – so maybe think of this as an investment in your health, and your self.
There are many health metrics that can be tested in these kind of blood panels – Thriva’s test provides an overview, but doesn’t include all the stuff you’d find in some other tests – say, a Complete Blood Count (CBC) test, thyroid test or Metabolic Panel. The big point is, how much data do you really need from these other tests? I’m neither an MD, nor very experienced in blood panels, so I can’t say – as with everything, your milage will vary…
What’s it like?
Gathering the data:
The kit itself arrives in the mail (it fits through your letterbox), and is relatively straightforward – it’s all in one box, which once open divides into sections.
Each baseline kit contains:
- 1x sample collection tube
- 1x alcohol swab
- 1x moist wipe
- 2x plasters
- Spring loaded lancets (2 spares)
- 1x plastic protective casing
- Return form
- Return envelope
Thriva strongly advise that you soak your hands in hot water before collecting your sample. You could do it just after taking a hot shower, though I chose to stick my hands into boiling water :3 Not that it works too well… I have to use all three lancets to draw the right amount of blood. I don’t know if that’s because I just suck at using said lancets or something else. I waste some of the precious bodily fluids in the process.
Worried about pain? No need. If you’ve ever used a lancet before you’ll know that it’s not really painful, more irritating – trying to get the blood to go into the tiny little vial, and get the right amount of blood into that vial. Blood out of a stone? More like blood out of a little finger.
Once you’ve bled enough until the tiny little vial, it’s time to label up your test and send things on their way. Labels are provided for you, just fill in the date and time of your bloodletting and then send it off as soon as possible (freepost).
Then the waiting game begins…
Analysing the data:
I may have faffed about in getting this back to them, but Thriva did not faff about in processing my data.
My blood panel returned a few days after I had posted my vial, along with some commentary from a doctor that was, on the main part, encouraging and positive. Apparently I have nothing glaring that needs to be changed, though a few of my results were in the yellow. These yellow results give me a few practical areas to research, and to see if I can get these readings into the green. I can see this becoming an addictive process, much like levelling up in a video game. Silicon Valley types refer to this as ‘gamification’ and it works.
It’s worth noting that they weren’t able to process all of my data. For some reason or another, they did not provide a reading for my Aspartate Transferase levels (an important blood marker for liver health). I’m not sure why this is exactly, but if I’m paying for a full blood panel, I want a *full* blood panel.
What’s measured?
The two main things that this test measures are:
Cholesterol:
- Triglycerides
- Cholesterol
- LDL Cholesterol
- Cholesterol Ratio
- HDL Cholesterol
Liver function:
- Bilirubin
- Alkaline Phosphatase
- Gamma GT
- Total Protein
- Albumin
- Globulin
- Aspartate Transferase
- Alanine Transferase
The Verdict:
Preventative health just upped its game. No question, Thriva are onto something here. I’m not sure if they’re the first, and I doubt they’ll be the last – but with Thriva’s help it is now easier and cheaper than it ever was to get true, quantifiable information about the state of your health. Want to know how giving up smoking, cutting down on your drinking or changing your diet could affect you? Thriva will give you the numbers you need.
It’s early days, and there may be a few kinks that need working out (for example, the missing data I alluded to in my first test). But so far, so good, it seems.
Another thing worth considering is that my feedback was relatively minimal due to my mostly healthy status. I’d like to see what they come back with for someone who has more stuff in the red – for example, what kind of suggestions they may provide – or if it is possible to get them to elaborate further on the data.
Watch this space. This healthy space.
The Details:
https://thriva.co/packages/baseline