“Everyone has the right to a long, healthy life."
Ola Bartholdsson is a businessman who aims to give everybody control over their own health through a digital health innovation – Bodymarkers. It was his own experience of health checks and a desire to take charge of his own health that led him to recognize a great need and a major demand.
“A great many people want to know more about how healthy they really are, but they don’t have access to information because healthcare is for people who are unwell, not healthy people who want to stay healthy," says Ola Bartholdsson, CEO and founder of Bodymarkers.
My vision for the future is for all people to have access to, and control over, their health and for Bodymarkers to help them achieve it - Ola Bartholdsson, CEO Bodymarkers.
Less than one per cent of the world’s population has access to, or can afford, preventive health checks. This is not just an enormous social problem; it also robs many people of longer, healthier lives.
“Everybody has a right to good health, and for this they need information about their own bodies. For many reasons, access to this information has only been available to healthcare professionals, but now I intend to make it accessible to anyone interested.”
During his business career, Ola Bartholdsson has set up and run many successful companies such as Smarteyes, Zinzino and Blic. Whereas the companies he created earlier in his career arose purely out of his spirit of enterprise, his latest company – Bodymarkers – lies closer to his heart.
“For most of my career I've worked at creating successful companies in different industries. With Bodymarkers I’ve combined my role as a businessman with a social issue that lies close to my heart – getting hold of information about our own bodies and our health.”
The basic idea behind Bodymarkers is that everybody should have direct and constant access to health information and their indicators – be they vitamins, blood lipids, minerals or hormones – without having to pay exorbitant private healthcare fees.
"Apart from our senior citizens, only one social group today enjoys preventive healthcare – people with paid company health insurance. If you are fit and healthy it’s extremely difficult to schedule a doctor's appointment, and everyone is referred to public healthcare for blood tests. Our solution means no unnecessary doctor’s visits merely for blood tests. We want to make it possible for people to find out their physical condition themselves and how they can influence their future health.
By measuring various biomarkers, i.e. measurable substances in the human body with the aid of mass spectrometry, it’s possible to determine e.g. biological condition, illnesses, malnutrition or excess consumption of specific nutrients.
“I remember a healthy 35-year-old woman who, following a preventive check-up, was told she would probably develop diabetes in the near future if she continued with her diet and lifestyle. She changed her lifestyle and remains healthy to this day. This is a clear example of how biomarker analysis can provide a good indication of health and help people create the conditions for sound, healthy living themselves.”
Ola Bartholdsson tells us that Bodymarkers in no way intends to replace regular healthcare or doctors’ visits; on the contrary, it’s a new way for healthy people to see how well they are doing on the inside and the direction their health is taking.
“There is no preventive healthcare for healthy people available today. This is a new social function that I hope will help both individuals and society as a whole. Imagine if ten per cent of the people who were in the danger zone for diabetes or some other illness discovered it in time and, based on their test results, were able to change their diet and lifestyle and thus avoid the illness. It would naturally be a huge health gain for the individual and mean major financial savings for society.
Bodymarkers' blood tests are carried out at home. A drop of blood is placed on a filter paper after which the test is mailed to Bodymarkers' lab. Within three weeks, the test results are displayed in the Bodymarkers smartphone app or sent via email.
“Having control over information about our health and the direction our health is taking will seem just a matter of course now that there are simple, accessible ways to obtain the information. My vision for the future is for all people to have access to, and control over, their health and for Bodymarkers to help them achieve it.
Bodymarkers will launch its first product – a vitamin D test – in the beginning of 2016 for sale through pharmacists and selected retail stores.
Bodymarkers newsroom
http://news.cision.com/bodymarkers
For further information
Ola Bartholdsson, CEO Bodymarkers, +46 734 216 000, ola.bartholdsson@bodymarkers.com
Magnus Sjöbäck, Press Officer, +46 704 45 15 99, magnus.sjoback@sjobackpr.se
Bodymarkers carries out biomarker analysis with test kits sold for home use. One drop of blood is all it takes for people to obtain information about their own bodies and health. Bodymarkers’ first product – a prediabetes test – will be launched in 2016 for sale through pharmacists and selected retail stores. The company was founded by businessman Ola Bartholdsson in 2015 and has its head office in Gothenburg, Sweden. www.bodymarkers.com
Tags:
