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Leaky gut diet plan and recipe inspiration
Explore the symptoms of leaky gut and how you can use whole foods to help your digestive system heal.
Digestive issues, food sensitivities, and brain fog can all make it tough for you to get through your day. For some people, these symptoms can be caused by leaky gut syndrome. Normally, your intestines serve as a barrier that only allows select nutrients to enter the bloodstream. When leaky gut syndrome develops, unwanted substances can pass through this barrier, leading to a variety of chronic health issues. Thankfully, there are steps you can take to heal gut health issues.
Here, we'll explore more about leaky gut, why it's so important to pay attention to gut health, and foods and recipes that can help restore your gut's ability to serve as an effective barrier between your digestive system and your bloodstream.
What is leaky gut?
Also known as increased intestinal permeability, leaky gut is a condition that occurs when the lining of the small intestine becomes damaged, allowing undigested food particles, toxins, and bacteria to enter into the bloodstream. A healthy intestinal system works as a selectively permeable barrier, allowing certain materials to pass through to the bloodstream while blocking harmful substances.
When the intestinal barrier is compromised, harmful materials can make it through the intestinal walls to the bloodstream, triggering a body-wide immune system response that can lead to inflammation and other issues related to a variety of health conditions.
Symptoms of leaky gut syndrome can differ from person to person and may include:
- Digestive issues like bloating, gas, diarrhea, and constipation
- Food sensitivities, including an increased sensitivity to gluten, dairy, soy, and other common food allergens
- Fatigue and brain fog
- Inflammation
- Joint pain
- Skin conditions including eczema and acne
- Autoimmune disorders like Hashimoto's thyroiditis or rheumatoid arthritis
An important note: While medical professionals agree that increased intestinal permeability is real, the term "leaky gut" is not yet a recognized diagnosis. If you're experiencing symptoms of leaky gut syndrome, it's a good idea to talk with your healthcare professional to rule out underlying issues.
What causes leaky gut?
The lining of your intestines is made up of a layer of cells that are tightly connected. This layer is responsible for helping nutrients and other helpful materials pass through to your bloodstream, while retaining and eventually getting rid of harmful materials. Sometimes, certain issues cause this barrier to become less effective. Chronic stress, alcohol consumption, certain infections, excessive use of certain medications, and a diet that relies heavily on processed foods and refined sugar can weaken the connections between the cells that make up the intestinal lining, causing leaky gut symptoms.
Why fixing leaky gut matters
Leaky gut syndrome can have a serious impact on overall health and well-being. If you think you may be suffering from a leaky gut, adding foods that support gut health to your nutrition plan can help you get back to feeling your best.
Some of the benefits of healing leaky gut syndrome can include:
- Better digestion: The wide range of digestive issues associated with leaky gut syndrome can make it hard to get the energy, nutrients, and minerals you need from food. Restoring gut health can help to alleviate symptoms like constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, acid reflux, bloating, and gas.
- Enhanced mental health: Researchers are still working to understand the connection between gut health and mental health. A compromised gut can inhibit your body's ability to produce serotonin, which may lead to a number of mental health issues like mood swings, anxiety, and depression. Taking steps to heal leaky gut syndrome may help to alleviate these issues.
- Strengthened immune system: Much of the body's immune system resides in the gut, and a healthy digestive system is key for fighting off viruses and bacteria. Healing leaky gut syndrome supports a healthy immune system and can help your body fight acute, chronic, and autoimmune conditions.
- Reduced inflammation: When toxins and bacteria enter the bloodstream through the intestinal wall, the body tries to protect itself by creating an inflammatory response. Over time, chronic inflammation can lead to cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and other serious health conditions. Healing leaky gut can reduce inflammation and help alleviate and/or heal related long-term health conditions.
Foods that can help heal leaky gut
Healing leaky gut requires a multifaceted approach. As you work to heal your gut, it's important to eat foods that reduce inflammation throughout the body, restore beneficial bacteria to the gut, and repair intestinal tissue.
Foods that can help to support the leaky gut healing process include:
- Bone broth: Whether you choose to make bone broth at home or buy a shelf-stable version at the grocery store, this gut-healing powerhouse is loaded with collagen, gelatin, and amino acids that can help repair your digestive lining while also reducing inflammation throughout the body.
- Fermented foods: Rich in probiotics, fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, and kimchi can all add helpful bacteria to the gut to restore your microbiome and aid in the healing process.
- Fiber-rich foods: Fiber works as a prebiotic, feeding the good bacteria in your gut. While fiber supplements can be helpful if you struggle to get enough fiber, it's best to hit your daily fiber goals using whole foods. Adding a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and seeds to your diet can help.
- Omega-3 fatty acids: Found in fish, flaxseeds, and chia seeds, omega-3 fatty acids can help to support healing in your digestive system.
- Coconut oil: Medium-chain triglycerides are abundant in coconut oil, making this plant-based fat a smart choice to help your body fight harmful bacteria and restore a healthy gut microbiome.
- Ginger and turmeric: Both spices are powerful anti-inflammatories that can reduce inflammation in the gut and promote healing.
Leaky gut recipes
Healing leaky gut syndrome can be a delicious adventure that pushes you to try new foods that help you feel your best. These are some of our favorite recipes that help support digestive health.
Ginger-carrot soup with bone broth and turmeric
Sourced from Dr. Michael Ruscio, DC
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp turmeric powder
- 4 cups chicken bone broth
- 4 cups carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 can coconut milk
- Sea salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat coconut oil in a large Dutch oven. Add chopped onion, fresh ginger, turmeric, and garlic. Sauté until soft.
- Add bone broth and chopped carrots. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and cook until carrots are very soft.
- Turn off heat and add coconut milk. Blend with an immersion blender or cool and process in batches in a regular blender.
- Add sea salt and pepper to taste.
Gut-Healing Smoothie
Sourced from Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CN
Ingredients
- 2 cups full-fat coconut milk or almond milk
- 2 cups kale
- 2 cups spinach
- 1/2 avocado
- 2 frozen bananas, cut into chunks
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 1/2 tablespoon chia or flax seeds
- 1/2 tablespoon bee pollen
- 1 tablespoon hemp hearts
- 1 tablespoon raw honey or Manuka honey
- 2 tablespoons collagen protein or whey protein
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a blender, and blend on high until smooth (about 2–3 minutes).
- Serve over ice.
Baked Sweet Potato Chips
Sourced from Beyer Functional Wellness
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- Salt
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Use a mandolin slicer to cut the sweet potatoes into paper-thin rounds. Pile all the sweet potato rounds into a large bowl and pour the olive oil over the top. Gently toss to coat every piece with oil. Then lay the sweet potato rounds out on the baking sheets in a single layer.
Sprinkle the chips lightly with salt. Bake for 20–25 minutes until crisp and golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets. Then move the chips to a bowl, or plastic bag to store. If you happen to find a few chips with soft centers, pop them back in the oven for about 5 minutes.
Sweet potato chips go from perfect to burned very quickly. Start watching each batch at the 20-minute mark and remove them the moment they look 90% crispy. They will continue to crisp up as they cool.
Healthy Chicken Cauliflower Fried Rice
Sourced from Beyer Functional Wellness
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil divided
- 2 chicken breasts boneless and skinless; cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 onion, yellow or white, diced
- 2 carrots diced; three small or two medium
- 3-4 garlic cloves chopped
- 4 cups cauliflower rice frozen
- 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 2-3 green onions sliced
- 2 teaspoons sesame seeds
Instructions
Heat half of the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium heat. Add the chicken breast and arrange in a single layer.
Cook undisturbed until almost all pieces are no longer pink. Sprinkle it with cumin, turmeric, salt, and pepper and stir. Continue to cook for 3–4 minutes more, or until cooked through and golden. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
To the same skillet, add the remaining oil. Sauté the onion and carrots until they begin to soften. Stir in the garlic and cauliflower rice.
Cook, stirring frequently, until the cauliflower rice is tender, around 5–7 minutes.
Return the cooked chicken to the skillet and stir with the cauliflower rice.
Top with green onions and sesame seeds.
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Preliminary Results from our Second COVID-19 Vaccination Perceptions and Behaviors Survey
COVID-19 vaccines have been a source of hope and trepidation for many. We wanted to know how individuals felt about the vaccines
The release of COVID-19 vaccinations has been a symbol of hope to many people — -and a source of hesitancy to some. For our second survey on COVID-19 vaccination perceptions and behaviors (which we will refer to as “survey 2” throughout this blog post), we wanted to understand how people were feeling about the vaccines as people first started getting access to them. We launched the survey in January 2021, and are excited to share some preliminary results with you!
Participants
100,080 people (“participants”) completed survey 2. 54,701 have completed all surveys in the study so far. The mean age of survey 2 participants was 37.4 (standard deviation: 12.2 years). The majority of survey 2 participants identified as female (80.8%) and identified as white (78.0%).
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Vaccination Likelihood and Hesitancy
One of our main focuses for this survey was to examine how COVID-19 vaccination likelihood and hesitancy has evolved over time.
11.4% of participants had already gotten a COVID-19 vaccine when they took the survey, with an additional 0.6% reporting participating in COVID-19 vaccination trials:
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Overall, survey 2 participants reported being more positive about COVID-19 vaccination than they had been previously. 30% of participants reported feeling more likely to get a COVID-19 vaccine than they had been a month ago:
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People reported a range of reasons for their likelihood of vaccination increasing, with some common responses including:
- Feeling more informed about COVID vaccination overall (for example, “learned more information about it”, “just thinking and researching”)
- Feeling more confident about COVID vaccination safety as more data and research were released (for example, “more data on potential side effects”, “studies are getting better and more people are receiving it.”)
- Feeling more confident about COVID vaccination safety as they saw their friends, family, and community starting to get vaccinated (for example, “seeing those I respect get it”, “watching people I know get it with little adverse side effects”)
We saw a similar trend looking at the differences between reported vaccination likelihood in the first and second surveys; mean reported likelihood was 4.93 in survey 1 (median=5), and 6.53 in survey 2 (median=8.0):
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Although the majority of participants (51.5%) still report being more hesitant about COVID-19 vaccines than other vaccines, a higher percentage of survey 2 participants reported being equally or less hesitant than survey 1 participants:
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Vaccination Informedness
As mentioned above, one common reason people gave for their increase in vaccination likelihood was feeling more informed about the vaccines. Our data reflect this increase in self-reported informedness; in survey 1, only 27.1% of participants reported feeling “informed” or “very informed”, but 53.3% did so in survey 2:
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The most common pieces of information unvaccinated participants reported needing to know before deciding to get the COVID-19 vaccine were all potential side effects (62.7%) and possible long-term impacts of vaccination (58.9%).
We look forward to further investigating these current perceptions and behaviors and see how they change as more people become eligible for vaccination!
Next Steps
To understand how people’s perceptions and behaviors related to COVID-19 vaccination continue to evolve as vaccines become available more broadly, we will send additional surveys over the following months asking for Evidation Members’ perceptions and behaviors. The exact dates of these future surveys will depend on developments in the pandemic and COVID-19 vaccination, so stay tuned for more!
If you’d like to get vaccinated, see this CDC page with resources to find appointments near you.
How Election Night 2020 Impacted Our Bedtimes
Do people stay up later on election night? Find out what we discovered.
Our Research, Analytics, and Learning team is exploring and analyzing data from our Evidation platform, where members contribute to research and help us uncover insights that could improve their health and the health of others.
During this year’s presidential election there was high voter turnout which included record-breaking numbers of mail-in ballots due to COVID-19. As we now know, this high volume of ballots required multiple days to count, so no final winner could be projected on Election Day. We decided to look at Evidation Members activity data to see what changes the election may have caused for our members.
We used Fitbit data contributed by Evidation Members, to explore sleep characteristics and schedules for the month leading up to Election Day in 2020. We looked specifically at the time that each member went to bed in their local timezone. Equivalent time periods in 2017–2019 were used for comparison. These periods were aligned across years based on week rather than calendar date, so that differences in weekend and weekday sleep cycles would line up. This also syncs the end of daylight saving time, which happened on November 1, 2020, the Sunday two days before Election Day, and temporarily shifts our sleep cycles earlier. Positioning the data in this way allows for appropriate comparisons of data across years.
So, did anything about our sleep change? This plot shows the average time Evidation Members started sleeping on the weeks leading up to and immediately after daylight saving time from 2017–2020:
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There is a clear weekly pattern: we go to bed later on Friday and Saturday nights, when we have a weekend day ahead of us. On daylight savings weekend we started sleeping slightly earlier as we adjusted to the end of daylight saving time, a trend which continues through the following week as we slowly adjust to going to bed later again. However, on Election Day 2020 this pattern was disrupted; bedtimes spiked up over 20 minutes from Sunday and Monday night.
You may also notice the interesting pattern of later bedtimes in 2017, leading up to daylight saving time. This lines up with Halloween night and games 6 and 7 of the 2017 World Series. We’ve examined the impact of the 2017 World Series on sleep in the past.
As we looked closer at our sleep data, we were curious to see if members on the East Coast stayed up later in their time zone than those on the West Coast while they waited for results, so we examined average bedtimes in each time zone. On election night, members on the East Coast stayed up the latest (11:51 PM), compared to members in the Central (11:39 PM), Mountain (11:39 PM), and Pacific (11:43 PM) time zones. Compared to the previous night, members in Eastern Standard Time stayed up 22 minutes later, Central Standard Time 20 minutes later, and Mountain Standard Time 23 minutes later, while members in Pacific Standard Time stayed up only 14 minutes later.
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Regardless of where we live, sleep is an important part of our health. Fortunately, later bedtimes due to the election were confined to Tuesday night. Bedtimes returned to normal after Election Day, as it became clear that election results would take at least several more days to be projected.
Did you stay up late on Election Day? If you have tips to reduce stress or improve sleep, we’d love to hear them.
Preliminary Results from our First COVID-19 Vaccination Perceptions and Behaviors Survey
We wanted to understand people’s evolving perceptions and behaviors related to COVID-19 and vaccinations.
We are all looking forward to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruptions it’s caused in our lives. A safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine will form part of the public health strategy to help us reach this endpoint faster. As many organizations work to develop and release such a vaccine, we wanted to understand people’s evolving perceptions and behaviors related to COVID-19 and vaccinations. We launched the first set of surveys in our study in October, and are excited to share some preliminary results with you!
Objectives
This study’s goal is to describe people’s perceptions and behaviors around the COVID-19 vaccine. For example, what reasons do people have for getting or not getting the COVID-19 vaccine? How likely are they to get it once it’s released? Has the pandemic encouraged people to get the flu shot? This study will investigate whether and how these perceptions and behaviors change over time, as COVID-19 vaccines are developed and released.
Methods
To describe people’s perceptions and behaviors, and how those perceptions and behaviors change over time, we are asking for people’s input through a series of online surveys. These surveys will be sent throughout the development and release of COVID-19 vaccines.
So far, we’ve launched 2 surveys: one to understand the backgrounds of the people participating (for example, their demographics, where they live, whether they’re at risk for COVID-19), and one to characterize current perceptions and behaviors. We have started analyzing the data collected between October 9th, 2020 and November 11th, 2020. We won’t be able to understand how perceptions and behaviors have changed until we launch the next survey, but we can start to describe how people are currently feeling about the COVID-19 vaccine!
Preliminary Results
Here are some preliminary results from our first 2 surveys.
Participants
64,750 people (“participants”) have completed the first perceptions and behaviors survey. Mean age was 38.5 (SD: 11.7 years), and the majority of participants identified as female (79.7%) and identified as white (80.0%).
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All 50 states (plus Puerto Rico and Washington, DC) are represented:
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Vaccination Likelihood, Motivators, and Barriers
On average, participants were on the fence in terms of likelihood of getting the COVID-19 vaccine when it’s released (mean=4.93, median=5). The distribution shows a wide range of opinions, with the largest numbers of people reporting at:
- 0 (“Very unlikely”): 18.8%
- 5: 13.6%
- 10 (“Very likely”): 14.3%
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The most common reasons people reported for getting the COVID-19 vaccine were to:
- help protect their family, friends, or community (59.9%)
- lower their chances of getting COVID-19 (56.7%)
- lower their chances of having to go to the doctor or getting hospitalized due to severe COVID-19 symptoms (53.7%)
- feel more comfortable spending time with their friends, family, or community (55.7%)
The most common reasons people had to not get vaccinated were because they were:
- concerned the vaccine is being approved too quickly (61.3%)
- concerned about possible side effects (60.1%)
- not sure the vaccine will be safe (56.2%)
- not sure the vaccine will be effective (57.0%)
Relative Vaccination Hesitancy
Most participants reported feeling more hesitant about the COVID-19 vaccine than other vaccines (68.0%), with 24.9% feeling equally hesitant and 7.1% feeling less hesitant:
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Vaccination Informedness
We’ve also found that people don’t feel particularly well-informed about the COVID-19 vaccine in general. 19.8% of participants report feeling “Not at all informed”, 22.7% “Slightly informed”, 30.4% “Moderately informed”, 19.2% “Informed”, and only 7.9% “Very informed”:
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Pandemic Influence on Flu Shot Plans and Behavior
The CDC has stressed that getting the flu shot this season is more important than ever, to help protect oneself and others and to minimize burden on the healthcare system. Many participants seem to agree: of the 35,997 participants who had not gotten the flu shot yet (or were unsure), 20.2% reported being more likely to get it this season due to the pandemic:
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Of the 28,753 participants who had gotten the flu shot, 20.0% reported that the pandemic encouraged them to get it, and 9.1% reported the pandemic was the primary reason they did so:
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We are excited to continue to investigate these current perceptions and behaviors and see how they change over the coming months!
Next Steps
To understand how people’s perceptions and behaviors related to COVID-19 vaccination evolve over the development and release of vaccines, we will send more surveys over the following months asking for Evidation Member’s perceptions and behaviors. These surveys will be sent as big events happen around the vaccine’s development, like its approval or release. The exact dates of these future surveys will depend on when these events happen, so stay tuned for more!
8 Fresh Summer Ideas
Don’t let summer pass you by this year! We chatted with our team and consolidated some of our favorite activities.
Don’t let summer pass you by this year! We chatted with our team and consolidated some of our favorite activities.
- Connect with brainy folks all around the world with Atlas Obscura’s Trivia Night! Rally together a virtual team and participate for $7.
- Celebrate Blues Artist Mavis Staples and listen to other folk artists including Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell, Ben Harper, and Phoebe Bridgers for a Livestream concert. Tickets cost $12. Tune in this Friday, July 31st at 8:30pm EST.
- Join host Saleem Reshamwala as he goes on global expeditions and learns from people around the world who are creatively working to make their communities better. Tune into this Ted podcast to transport to another world virtually in the absence of travel.
- Host a virtual book club with friends. The benefit of talking about your latest read via Zoom or video chat is that you can connect with friends across time zones.
- Jump on the geocaching bandwagon. We recently heard from some Achievers that they’ve been geocaching with their family members for an active, outdoor treasure hunt.
- Make a box fort/cat castle for your cat children if you’re a cat mom or dad. :)
- Set up a socially distanced front yard hang! Dust off your lawn chairs and pick up some of your favorite snacks and head outdoors.
- Choose a road trip and safely travel to a closeby spot! Know you’re not alone in opting for a road trip as a staycation during these unusual times. Read up on some of the best road trips in America.
- Host your very own hot sauce competition with your “quaranteam.” Find some new hot sauces you’ve always wanted to try online and order them in to have a mini hot sauce competition. Pro tip: the Heatonist has some of our favorites.
- Channel your inner artist with a paint by number kit. Tune into a favorite playlist and enjoy a leisurely weekend art hour.
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Representation in Research Matters
We’re collaborating with BlackDoctor.org to ensure that the effects of COVID-19 are investigated in a representative population.
Historically, minorities have been inadequately represented in research studies. We’re committed to enrolling a more diverse and representative population in Evidation for studies.
We’re collaborating with BlackDoctor.org to ensure that the effects of COVID-19 are investigated in a representative population.
We, in partnership with BlackDoctor.org and Myovant Sciences, have launched Forward Momentum, a cross-sector coalition working to improve the lives of men with prostate cancer. Forward Momentum is committed to addressing the complex set of challenges that hold back the representation, information, and conversations that all men deserve. By bringing together organizations from diverse sectors and investing in novel digital initiatives, Forward Momentum strives to accelerate progress for men with prostate cancer.
Stay tuned for more updates from us on these research efforts!
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Hear from Us About the Future of Health
Evidation partners with the world’s leading healthcare companies and enables everyone to participate in research.
Our CEO, Deborah Kilpatrick, recently spoke on a podcast about the importance of everyday behavior data and the future of health. After working in the medical technology space, she joined Evidation Health in 2014. Evidation partners with the world’s leading healthcare companies and enables everyone to participate in research. We’re focused on helping people measure everyday activities. We’re also invested in connecting our community to opportunities that will help them better understand the conditions that impact them and their loved ones. Listen more on this podcast here.
Together We Can Achieve More
At Evidation, we’re focused on meeting people where they are and helping them along their health journey.
At Evidation, we’re focused on meeting people where they are and helping them along their health journey. Our engaged community of members represents 96% of U.S. counties and includes individuals across ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. This community puts us in a unique position to learn from one another and contribute to meaningful health research.
With a mission of helping people participate in better health outcomes, we're committed to identifying opportunities that are inclusive of all and educating ourselves on the social issues that are impacting the world. To truly achieve our mission of helping people participate in better health outcomes, we recognize we have more work to do. Our commitment going forward:
- Provide our members with educational content around health and race curated by our team of researchers.
- Put in place more inclusive study opportunities for members to participate in.
- Do our part as a research company to participate in inclusive clinical research practices to ensure diverse and generalizable results through diverse participant recruitment and participation.
- Hold ourselves accountable by reporting our progress out to our members.
We’re committed to supporting long-term systematic change and stand in solidarity with our Black teammates, Evidation Members, and the entire Black community. We know this is only the beginning of the conversation, and we need to continue to fight for equality. We’ll continue to listen, educate ourselves, take action, hold ourselves accountable, and pledge to do our best to support all communities to participate in better health outcomes.
An immediate change we’re pleased to share is that Evidation Members can now donate their rewards to these charities:
American Civil Liberties Union
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Evidation Health and BARDA Partner on Early Warning System for COVID-19
On June 4th, Evidation Health announced a new effort to develop an early warning algorithm to detect symptoms of COVID-19 and to understand susceptibility to infection, funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Here at Evidation, we’ve been identifying opportunities to contribute to COVID research. THe Evidation app is a product of Evidation Health, and has a community of over 3 million and members all around the United States. With an engaged research population representing a variety of zip codes and demographics, we’re uniquely positioned to help researchers and organizations conduct meaningful research about the pandemic.
On June 4th, Evidation Health announced a new effort to develop an early warning algorithm to detect symptoms of COVID-19 and to understand susceptibility to infection, funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“Many infected individuals are asymptomatic but still able to spread the virus, making efforts to prevent and slow transmission of COVID-19 difficult,” said Luca Foschini, Ph.D., Evidation’s co-founder and chief data scientist. “This initiative will use novel behavioral and physiological data to more effectively identify when and where people may contract COVID-19, and can potentially enable real-time interventions to limit spread and monitor outcomes.”
The analysis, performed in collaboration with non-profit 4YouandMe, will use de-identified data generated by self-reporting and wearable devices to track symptoms of COVID-19 in those at particularly high risk, including health care workers and other first responders, in order to better understand susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection. One potential outcome of this work is an early warning algorithm to help individuals better understand and monitor their respiratory disease symptoms and take precautions against their spread.
“The ability to self-monitor and be informed of health status will empower Americans in their decisions to help slow the spread of this pandemic and improve health outcomes for people with COVID-19,” said BARDA Acting Director, Gary Disbrow, Ph.D. “This pilot study is not only an early step in demonstrating the utility of models developed using person-generated health data but also may provide data to better understand the varied symptoms of COVID-19.”
This program follows Evidation’s work with BARDA to monitor individuals for respiratory infections, such as influenza. Evidation’s existing research on influenza utilizes person-generated health data and population-based models with the goal of improving real-time respiratory infection monitoring at the individual and population level. BARDA is contributing a $720,000 award as part of BARDA’s COVID-19 Rapidly Deployable Capabilities program to identify and pilot near-term innovative solutions for COVID-19. Support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is from the $250 million the foundation has committed to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
How Evidation Members Rallied Together Through COVID Pulse Survey
Through this challenging time, we we've been inspired by our members who responded to many questions with great empathy and creativity as they have adapted to new routines
We’ve been continuing to monitor sentiment in the community around the coronavirus through an Evidation Survey called COVID Pulse. Since kicking off the survey on March 12th right after the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, we’ve been sending out a weekly survey to our members.
We wanted to quantify participation and interest and share some of the latest trends from our most recent surveys. After we released the first survey, we received over 120,000+ responses in five days from over 20,000 United States zip codes. The highest percentage of responses came from the age groups in the range of 30–39, followed by the 18–29 age range, and lastly, the 40–49 range. Though, we did see representation from members ages 18–80+! We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of members who have continued to check in week over week to share their sentiment surrounding coronavirus. In fact, 11% of survey respondents have completed all five COVID Pulse Surveys to date and 22%+ completed four out of five COVID Pulse Surveys.
Most recently, we saw that over 85% of respondents said that if social distancing and stay at home orders were lifted today, they would know what to do to reduce chances of contracting the coronavirus. We also saw that members would continue to take the necessary precautions even if social distancing guidelines and stay at home orders were lifted. Over 60% would continue to stay at home and maintain social distancing behaviors. Additionally, nearly 70% said they would continue to start to wear protective equipment (for example a face mask) in public settings. For those who responded in locations where shelter in place has been lifted, only ~25% of respondents said that they were attending small social events.
Through this challenging time, we were also inspired by our members who responded to many questions with great empathy and creativity as they have adapted to new routines. In fact, when asked about their concerns if they were to be diagnosed, 75% of respondents expressed concern over getting others sick in their worries. This fear was followed by 60% of respondents expressing their worry over the physical discomforts of getting sick. Regarding ways to minimize changes to physical and mental health, we’ve seen an uptick in individuals sharing the importance of maintaining whatever routines possible, avoiding or taking breaks from the news, and a continued connection through video chats with friends and family. In fact, maintaining connection through social media scored high for Evidation Members as a method to socialize with others. Both last week and this week, 70% of respondents said they used social media to socialize with other people.