Can you hack your way to optimal health?

A nurse sits down next to me on my sofa and sticks a needle into my vein. It’s a slightly surreal experience, this hospital procedure far from an emergency room, but the collection of vials of my blood that she carefully places into a medical travel box is destined for a lab beyond the four walls of my apartment.

I am undergoing a personalised screening based on blood tests and lifestyle evaluation to programme a completely bespoke vitamin supplement. This is bioniq LIFE, a ‘biohacking’ approach to optimal wellness. Biohacking is one of the latest buzzword trends to emerge from the wellness industry.

Aimed at busy individuals who need to perform at their best, but find that life often conspires to make them feel that way, the programme promises to improve your overall wellbeing thanks to directly targeting any deficiencies or requirements that the comprehensive blood tests will reveal.

A few days later, and I receive a Whatsapp with a link to register myself onto bioniq’s website, where I can log in securely and read a list that details around 50 different aspects of my health as indicated by my blood. The test results are the most thorough I’ve ever seen, and reveal a host of information. My vitamin and mineral levels, insulin, platelets, cholesterol and thyroid all get either a green, amber or red result based on current medical and scientific parameters for good health.

Overall, I consider myself to be in pretty solid health. My Garmin watch, which I wear almost constantly strapped to my wrist, tells me that I regularly achieve my daily step count. My V02Max is, I am smug to report, in the higher range for women half my age.

I recently competed in a 50km desert ultramarathon. My endurance and fitness is the best it has ever been. I don’t smoke, and rarely drink alcohol. I work full time, I am a mother. Of course I am sometimes tired. Getting up at 4am to run followed by a day at the office and then some exhausted parenting will do that to a gal.

But could a vitamin and minerals supplement tailored to my exact requirements – as revealed by the assortment of blood test results – turn me from an amateur endurance running working mother who needs to write everything down or it may as well not happen, into an actual superhuman?

Bioniq is a subscription-based service which analyses and tracks your health and nutritional status

“Your test results are generally pretty good,” says Clarissa Lenherr, bioniq’s certified nutritionist. “In the past, our tests, which are so comprehensive, have actually helped our clients identify more serious conditions. Yours seem fine.”

She talks me through a few points that merit attention. Something called bilirubin is in the red, and a little high. “Do you drink much coffee?” she asks me. “Around six or seven cups,” I reply. “A week?” “Um, a day.” To her credit, she remains coolly professional as she suggests that perhaps I may wish to reduce my intake, while stocking up on leafy green vegetables, peppers, tomatoes, citrus fruits, and high-fiber foods, including beans and lentils.

A few months on the personalised supplement, which is delivered a week or so after my results, promises to make me feel like a new woman.

“If you take your personalised bioniq formula religiously, you should soon start experiencing positive changes such as better sleep, higher energy, and better cognitive abilities,” says Lenherr.

The vitamins look a bit like birdfeed. Tiny, multi-coloured granules that taste a little citrusy, they arrive in a box containing a little silver ladle. I am to take one and a half ladles in the morning with food, and one at night. The granules are apparently more effective because they absorb better over a 12-hour period.

Bioniq LIFE co-founder Vadim Fedotov is adamant that 70 percent of health depends on nutrition

Additionally, the vitamins have been specifically tailored to me based on the test, ensuring that only the necessary ones are taken. They’re made on a base of Indian acacia and are suitable for vegans.But what is the company behind this supposed miracle solution to life’s most common modern-day ailment, namely feeling permanently exhausted by life itself?

Bioniq LIFE, according to its brochure, is “an innovative, research-based health system which evolves with you on your journey to improved health. Brought to you by the health tech innovators bioniq, this subscription-based service cross-analyses and tracks your health and nutritional status, providing in-depth information and recommendations based on your personal data, blood test results and the unique bioniq algorithm.”

Its founder is serial entrepreneur and ex-athlete, Vadim Fedotov.

“As a former pro-athlete, I always had a keen interest in health, biohacking and wellness. At the age of 32, being a CEO at the largest media holding in Eastern and Central Europe, I stopped feeling at the top of my performance. I went to a doctor who made me do various extensive, expensive tests — only to conclude that “I was not ill”.

I was looking for something to help me optimise my physical, mental and cognitive abilities. This is when I realised that the market did not have a company that provides personalised solutions. With my partner and co-founder of bioniq, Dr. Karuzin, we have built a start-up based on his multiple clinical trials and medical experience with top companies like Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline.”

The bioniq database consists of more than 2 million biochemical parameters obtained repeatedly from 12,000 people over the past eight years. This base is one of the largest in the world.

Bioniq is not “wonder pills” that will fix everything, according to Fedotov

Fedotov is adamant that 70 percent of health depends on nutrition. “Bioniq is not “wonder pills” that will fix everything. Our health and bodies are complex and affected by a number of factors, including nutrition, quality of sleep, stress levels, activity levels, even climate and weather.”

As part of the bioniq journey, clients have regular consultations with nutritionists, who advise on how to integrate a suitable meal plan into their lives based on an individual blood test and health status. The blood tests are repeated every two months with 50 parameters, allowing clients to track progress and status.

So what of my superhuman status following a few months on bioniq Life? Well, the jury is a little out in this regard. I do feel like my brain feels a bit more alert, and my tiredness levels, which weren’t too dramatically bad to begin with, feel relatively levelled out.

The vitamins look a bit like birdfeed. Tiny, multi-coloured granules that taste a little citrusy

Reducing my caffeine intake was a solid call anyway, as it had spiralled a little out of control. I’d made a conscious effort at the beginning of the year to streamline my life anyway, in a bid to claw back precious time that had stopped feeling like my own.

Could my newfound determination to have zero tolerance for timewasting activities and individuals be the reason I feel a little more Zen and in control, or could tweaking my nutrients and minerals to optimally address my body’s requirements have given me that edge?

It’s hard to say, but as someone who wholeheartedly agrees with Fedotov that good nutrition underpins so much of our health, I can’t see any harm in investing in such a rigorously applied nutrient programme. Now, if only I could biohack my deadlines, I’d be all set.