On the 9th-11th of November 2012 a young and dynamic company called eWellness Solutions, took a formidable challenge of getting systems biology out of the laboratory into the more general human population for screening purposes and understanding South Africa's changing health patterns.This was successfully demonstrated at the Look & Feel Good Expo 2012 at the Coca Cola Dome in Johannesburg.
Despite 21st century medical advances, major indications of population morbidity and mortality like diabetes, obesity, heart disease and all cancers(all problems in which genetic and environmental factors are closely linked) are rising all over the world. Many of these diseases may be related to changes in the activities or composition of the gut microbiota (microbiome), which has been profoundly affected by our lifestyle changes(especially antibiotic use) which are dished out like sweets in South Africa . The microbiome is the exact point where host genetics meets environment and eFortify considers our gut the most integrated and influential 'environmental' factor. Humans have slowly evolved with this 'extended genome' of microbiota, perturbation of this close association is potentially dangerous and, controversially,might be the root cause of many modern diseases.
eFortify introduced to the South African Market a very strong micro-flora in liquid form (one billion live organisms per ml. This is a live food probiotic available through eFortify; part of eWellness Solutions' Fortification division). Most people reported an increase in energy after taking it. eFortify's micro-flora was a complete sellout at the expo. Systems biology is the driver of personalized medicine, eWellness Solutions' eProfiler is interested in measuring metagenomic features of the gut microbiome, which strongly influence exact mammalian metabolic phenotypes. South Africa has a Westernized economy and lifestyle and is now acquiring Western disease patterns at an alarming rate.
eWellness Solutions is aggressively moving forward with addressing key metabolic imbalances seen in today's chronically ill. Systems biology seeks to understand biological phenomena on a large scale. The term systems biology was coined to describe the field of scientific inquiry which takes a global approach to the understanding of cells and the elucidation of biological processes and mechanisms.