I absolutely agree the concept is great, and I think the team is generally well intentioned and want to help people make healthy choices. You can also find a couple of other startups in this space with different approaches. The issue is that here people are buying a product based in part on something which is 100% untrue. Selling a test that is only known to test UTIs (and even then unreliably) but saying it also tracks "infections" is like selling a urine blood test and telling you it is a "cancer" test because blood can appear in urine if you have bladder cancer (but also other reasons like kidney stones). The app itself says there is "no risk" of infections or UTI if nothing is seen in the urine. FYI I am a chemist and nurse by training. I am not trying to be vindictive, but I care about protecting patients and people.
I'm not sure if you'll get a reply, but they've since (mostly) pulled the claim to track "immunity" and "immune system strength" from their website. However, they are still claiming to track "infections", which is misleading because they are already tracking UTIs (urinary tract infection) using exactly the same biomarkers (white blood cells + nitrite). "Infections" could be viral, bacterial, lower urinary tract, upper respiratory...etc. There is no evidence that infections in general can be detected from urine, it is very specific to urinary tract infections, and even then the UTI test has a false negative rate as many UTIs do not produce any WBCs or nitrite.
Vivoo has since been reported by Truth In Advertising - see https://www.truthinadvertising.org/vivoo/. It falsely advertises the ability to track immunity / immune system strength and energy levels (neither of which can be done reliably with a urine test) without any supporting evidence.
Latest Comments
Vivoo, The Startup That Takes Your Urine And Gives You Personalized Health Advice
My pleasure!
Vivoo, The Startup That Takes Your Urine And Gives You Personalized Health Advice
I absolutely agree the concept is great, and I think the team is generally well intentioned and want to help people make healthy choices. You can also find a couple of other startups in this space with different approaches. The issue is that here people are buying a product based in part on something which is 100% untrue. Selling a test that is only known to test UTIs (and even then unreliably) but saying it also tracks "infections" is like selling a urine blood test and telling you it is a "cancer" test because blood can appear in urine if you have bladder cancer (but also other reasons like kidney stones). The app itself says there is "no risk" of infections or UTI if nothing is seen in the urine. FYI I am a chemist and nurse by training. I am not trying to be vindictive, but I care about protecting patients and people.
Vivoo, The Startup That Takes Your Urine And Gives You Personalized Health Advice
I'm not sure if you'll get a reply, but they've since (mostly) pulled the claim to track "immunity" and "immune system strength" from their website. However, they are still claiming to track "infections", which is misleading because they are already tracking UTIs (urinary tract infection) using exactly the same biomarkers (white blood cells + nitrite). "Infections" could be viral, bacterial, lower urinary tract, upper respiratory...etc. There is no evidence that infections in general can be detected from urine, it is very specific to urinary tract infections, and even then the UTI test has a false negative rate as many UTIs do not produce any WBCs or nitrite.
Vivoo, The Startup That Takes Your Urine And Gives You Personalized Health Advice
Vivoo has since been reported by Truth In Advertising - see https://www.truthinadvertising.org/vivoo/. It falsely advertises the ability to track immunity / immune system strength and energy levels (neither of which can be done reliably with a urine test) without any supporting evidence.