Supergut, a gut health brand specializing in GLP-1 nutrition, has secured a significant growth investment from Full Frame Growth Partners and appointed former Vital Proteins CEO, Tracey Warner Halama, as its new CEO, while founder Marc Washington transitions to a strategic role. With sales surging 172% in 2024, Supergut is expanding its retail presence in Target, Sprouts, and GNC, offering clinically backed shakes, bars, and powders that support gut health and naturally stimulate GLP-1 hormone production. The brand aims to strengthen its position in the digestive health category, grow on Amazon, and potentially conduct further clinical research on its GLP-1…
Author: Abhay Panchal
Season 2 of Brains & Guts explores the evolving AI landscape in gastroenterology. The first episode features Dr. Aasma Shaukat, professor of medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and ACG Board of Trustees member, discussing AI’s impact on GI care.
At the ECCO 2025 Congress, researchers presented a study showing that machine learning can identify gut microbial biomarkers that differentiate IBD patients—particularly those with Crohn’s disease—from healthy individuals. The study analyzed stool samples from over 3,700 participants, finding that supervised machine learning had the highest diagnostic accuracy (AUC 0.971).
At the Paris AI Summit, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance urged against overregulating AI, arguing that excessive caution could stifle innovation. This shift in perspective aligns with rapid advancements, including DeepSeek’s open-source AI models, which significantly reduce development costs and lower entry barriers for smaller companies. In healthcare, knowledge distillation—training AI on real-world patient interactions—is set to drive hyper-specialized AI applications. This could transform virtual care, improve chronic disease management, and reduce healthcare costs. AI-powered assistants trained on real patient data may soon provide scalable, affordable care, filling critical gaps without replacing human clinicians.
Cylinder, a leading virtual digestive health provider, has appointed Ryan Sloan as its first Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) to oversee sales, health plan partnerships, and commercial strategy. With over 20 years of experience in healthcare, Sloan has held key roles at Galileo, Google’s Onduo, Aetna, and Vitality, specializing in digital health and value-based care.
Key takeaways: Among populations with low adherence to colorectal cancer screening, annual fecal immunochemical testing was the cheapest and most effective noninvasive screening method, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
his World Obesity Day, the focus shifts from individuals to systemic factors shaping health, such as policy, healthcare systems, and social determinants like food security. A new commission in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology calls for a shift away from BMI as the primary diagnostic tool for obesity, introducing ‘preclinical obesity’ and ‘clinical obesity’ to better classify disease progression. Similarly, experts argue that metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) should be classified as a non-communicable disease (NCD) alongside cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory disease. With MASLD affecting 30% of the global population, integrating it into public health strategies…
On February 21, 2025, the FDA declared the semaglutide shortage resolved, stating that supply now meets or exceeds demand. This decision follows ongoing litigation with the Outsourcing Facilities Association (OFA), which filed a new lawsuit challenging the removal. The FDA has extended compounding allowances for state-licensed pharmacies until April 22, 2025, and outsourcing facilities until May 22, 2025. The legal battle over semaglutide’s availability may impact future compounding policies, especially as certain GLP-1 products continue to be compounded in various formulations.
Scientists at Lawson Research Institute and London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute are pioneering a fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) approach to improve chemotherapy response in advanced pancreatic cancer. The Phase I trial will use LND101 capsules, containing gut microbes from healthy donors, to modify tumor microbiomes and enhance immune function. Previous studies on melanoma, lung, and renal cancer suggest this treatment could improve survival rates, marking a potential breakthrough in cancer therapy.
Sanford Health implemented an AI-driven risk model in its EHR to enhance colorectal cancer screening for 100,000 newly eligible patients following the USPSTF recommendation to begin screenings at age 45. The AI tool analyzes 85 nontraditional risk factors, increasing cancer detection rates fivefold compared to traditional models. It also prioritizes high-risk patients for colonoscopies and integrates at-home stool DNA tests to optimize screening backlogs. The next phase will expand the AI tool across all primary care clinics, with broader applications in early disease detection beyond colorectal cancer.