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Smartblood Review: Blood Testing for Food Intolerances?

Written by Michael Principato, BPHE (Bachelor of Physical and Health Education) | Last updated:

Overview

  1. Products: At-home blood testing for food intolerances, and professional consultations
  2. Cost: $27.50-$140 per test.
  3. Reports: Positive/negative antibody testing, analysis of individual food and drink reactions.
  4. Privacy: Smartblood claims they will never pass personal data to any parties outside of sample collection and processing. Users will be granted the ability to erase their data at any time.
  5. Alternatives: SelfDecode– SelfDecode provides personalized health and dietary recommendations supported by peer-reviewed genetic studies based on your DNA variants. SelfDecode promises to never sell or give away your data to any third parties.

Pros

  • If no reactions are found in the Full Smartblood Food Intolerance Test Programme, an 80% refund will be offered
  • Smartblood offers text and email alerts with results
  • The Full Smartblood Food Intolerance Test Programme ($140 test) includes a 30 minute consultation with a registered nutritional therapist

Cons

  • Does not test for genetic variants/SNPs
  • Does not provide personalized health recommendations based on results
  • The reports do not provide any additional information outside of the direct results

About Smartblood

Smartblood Ltd is a small company located in Exeter, United Kingdom. It was founded in 2017.

The company strives to build a user friendly food intolerance tracking service that is speedy and reliable. They believe that combining food intolerance testing with advice from a licensed nutritionist will improve their client’s health outcomes.

Review of Smartblood Products & Features

Smartblood offers two main blood tests, the 1st Step Test, and the Full Smartblood Test.

The 1st Step Test is the basic package, it offers a binary result that checks for 134 foods and drinks. Therefore, if the customer tests positive for an intolerance for one of the 134 foods or drinks in the list, they will get a “positive” result. The company recommends that positive results should be followed up with their more advanced test, the Full Smartblood Test.

The Full Smartblood Test checks for each of the 134 food and beverage antibody reactions. The test results are not binary, they are listed on a scale of 0-5 in terms of intolerance severity. A consultation with an affiliated registered nutritionist will be arranged to discuss the results.

Both tests are delivered as kits to the customers. The kits include all the materials necessary for conducting the finger prick to collect the blood sample, and to ship it back to the laboratory.

Review of Smartblood Reports

Depending on the test that the customer chooses, the reports will differ.

For the 1st Step Test, the reports are very short, featuring a one page positive or negative result. The 1st Step Test is very simple to understand, and is color-coded depending on the result that the customer gets.

Smartblood food intolerance test

Smartblood food intolerance report

For the Full Smartblood Test, the reports will include a summary of each item tested, on a scale of 0-5. The reports will also include visualizations, such as the chart from the sample report below.

Food intolerance test results

Another way that the data is visualized is the overview section, seen above. This section includes each food or drink and the level of intolerance divided by category, such as the grains and staples, and dairy and eggs section.

Cost of Smartblood

Since the company is based out of the United Kingdom, the prices are offered in pound sterling on the company’s website. When converted to U.S. dollars, the 1st Step Test costs $27.50 and the Full Smartblood Test costs $140 per test.

For both tests, postage and packaging costs are included in the listed price.

The company’s terms & conditions also mention that customers can return their kit within 30 days as long as it is not damaged or not used. Additionally, if there is an error in collecting the blood sample, the company will send you another kit free of charge.

Health Recommendations from Smartblood

Smartblood does not offer health recommendations with their reports. The reports offer visualizations of the customer’s sensitivities, or a simple positive/negative result, but with no other health advice.

That being said, the Full Smartblood Test does include a 30 minute consultation with a certified nutritionist, which would include health recommendations and advice regarding the customer’s results from the test. However, the 1st Step Test will not include the consultation, and no health recommendations are included.

Review of Smartblood Privacy & Data Security

Smartblood includes their main privacy claims within the privacy policy on their website. The policy claims that they will not release or sell private customer data to anyone but the parties that need to use the information to process the sample to deliver the service.

The privacy policy also states that customers have the right to erase their personal health data that is sent to the company. Customers can also opt out of anonymized information that is collected by the website.

SelfDecode vs Smartblood

  1. SelfDecode delivers natural supplement, diet, and lifestyle suggestions based on your genes that you can implement right away. Smartblood does not offer supplement, diet, or lifestyle advice in their reports, other than displaying food intolerances.
  2. SelfDecode tells you why they make each recommendation so that you can understand the science behind the suggestion. Smartblood does not make recommendations.
  3. SelfDecode prioritizes recommendations based on their analysis of all the relevant genes instead of one gene at a time (through reports). Smartblood does not make recommendations.
  4. SelfDecode takes a holistic approach to give recommendations that are best for your genes AND the health topic. Smartblood does not take a holistic approach, since they only offer food sensitivity information.
  5. SelfDecode is the most comprehensive and looks at more genes & SNPs (up to 83 million) and lab markers (over 500) to deliver the best analysis. Smartblood investigates 134 different food and drink sensitivities, but does not analyze genes.
  6. SelfDecode supports everything with peer-reviewed scientific studies in their research and checks for contradicting information. Smartblood includes a consultation with a licensed nutritionist when a customer purchases a Full Smartblood Test.
  7. SelfDecode never sells your data or gives it away. Smartblood claims they will never pass personal data to any parties outside of sample collection and processing. Users will be granted the ability to erase their data at any time.

Comparisons

SelfDecode

Smartblood

WellnessFX

Thriva

Personalized & holistic health recommendations

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Genes & lab markers analyzed

Up to 83 million genetic variants & over 500 lab markers

134 food items 50+ lab markers

35 lab markers in total

Products

DNA testing, wellness reports, research-based personalized health recommendations, lab test analyzer

Food intolerance blood testing, licensed nutritionist consultations, informational blog posts Lab test packages, practitioner consultations, informational blog posts

At-home blood tests, health and wellness reports

Raw data access

Yes

N/A N/A

N/A

Cost (USD)

$97 – $387

$27-$140 per test $78-$925

$0 – $94+

Smartblood Reviews

There are currently no customer reviews on Google or Amazon. There is limited discussion on social media, with the company receiving no reviews on Facebook.

Alternatives

  • SelfDecode: The best option for health-focused DNA analysis with personalized reports and recommendations to improve your quality of life.
  • LabTestAnalyzer: offers insights, including dietary information, based on over 500 lab markers.

Smartblood Review Summary

Smartblood offers customers a way to understand if they have food intolerances based on a wide variety of food and drinks, but it falls short in many aspects. The basic test offering will only alert the customer that there is a “positive” reaction to a list of over 130 foods, meaning that if only one food has a slight intolerance, the customer will need to purchase the Full Test.

This Full Test will cost about $140, and even with the 30-minute consultation, individuals interested in learning more about their health could find a more comprehensive service for a comparable price.

Alternatives such as SelfDecode offer a DNA test that delivers diet, lifestyle, and supplement recommendations aimed at improving overall health. Additionally, uploading your lab test results to LabTestAnalyzer offers personalized insights on over 500 lab markers and how to optimize them, all for less than $100 annually.

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About the Author

Michael Principato

Michael Principato

BPHE (Bachelor of Physical and Health Education)
Michael received his BPHE from the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen's University

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