Pierre Cressard founded the start-up Nahibu in March 2019 in Rennes.

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J. Gicquel / 20 Minutes

  • It is a special Consumer Electronics Show which opens this Monday in Las Vegas with a 100% virtual meeting.

    Because of the coronavirus, start-ups will present their innovations on video.

  • Among the French companies present, we find Nahibu and its kit to test its microbiota.

  • Understanding our intestinal flora has fascinated research and the general public for ten years.

It was called the intestinal flora for a long time before the term microbiota came into being in medical jargon.

We are talking about an organ nestled in our intestines that can weigh up to two kilos and is made up almost essentially of several trillions of bacteria.

Too often neglected, it nevertheless plays a fundamental role in our health, functioning as a second brain.

In addition to its digestive function, the microbiota thus helps the body to defend itself against external attacks.

It also influences our moods since 90% of serotonin, the hormone of happiness, would be secreted in our intestines.

In the event of imbalance, the microbiota can on the other hand be at the origin of many diseases such as obesity, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's or type 2 diabetes.

A complete mapping of its microbiota

So many unsuspected powers that have increasingly interested research and the general public for ten years.

Tech players quickly sniffed out the vein with several start-ups that have entered this market in France.

This is the case of the Rennes-based company Nahibu, which will participate all this week in the 100% virtual edition of the CES in Las Vegas.

Installed in an incubator dedicated to biotechnologies, it has been marketing kits for testing its intestinal microbiota for a little less than two years.

"We do not have a medical approach, we are more in the field of well-being", specifies its founder Pierre Cressard.

The test begins with a stool sample to be taken yourself before the fecal matter is sent to a laboratory for analysis.

The person will then receive a complete mapping of their microbiota.

“The richer and more diversified it is, the better off the person is,” says Pierre Cressard.

To reinforce it in the event of imbalance, Nahibu also offers its customers dietary advice.

"Pickles, raw vegetables, yoghurts or sauerkraut, for example, are very good for your microbiota", explains Pierre Cressard.

A partnership with Stade Rennais

Leader in this market in France with several thousand kits sold last year, Nahibu also caught the eye of Stade Rennais with which it has just signed a partnership.

About fifteen players from the Breton club thus agreed to test their microbiota to try to further improve their performance thanks to a personalized nutrition solution.

Our dossier on CES in Las Vegas

"With the approach of winter, we know that the immune system can be shaken, so we will try to prevent this", underlines Rufin Boumpoutou, doctor of Stade Rennais, who plans in particular to prescribe probiotics to the players "to feed the microbiota and make it more efficient ”.

For Stade Rennais, the key to success for the second part of the season may be hidden in the gut of its players.

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