BellSant Puts Trusted Health Advisors ‘In Your Pocket’

BellSant tracks users’ biological age across 11 key systems of health, providing motivating feedback on exercise, nutrition and daily habits

While an apple a day is rumored to deter your primary care physician from checking in on you, BellSant is not so easily stopped. 

Founded in 2022 and launched this past November, the digital wellness system slows down users’ aging and helps them live healthier lives by providing science-based feedback on their exercise, nutrition and daily habits. BellSant users undergo blood, physical and mental tests every three to six months. Results and feedback then become available via the BellSant app. 

Physicals Aren’t Enough

By giving users a more detailed and science-backed approach to wellness, BellSant’s offerings go above and beyond those of a yearly physical exam. The app is available on both iOS and Android devices and membership costs as little as $1.18 a day.  

“With thousands of peer-reviewed papers published every year studying the effects of lifestyle, diet, habits, and drugs on longevity, we felt like it was unfair to expect our primary care physician to be able to stay on top of all of this information,” Rick Bowman, BellSant co-founder and Head of Product, told Athletech News. “We didn’t want to review every crazy new fad we found online with our doctor, so we set out to build a team that could validate and curate the best information and create a one-stop shop for trusted health information.”

BellSant carries a team of analysts advised by 20 academic researchers at 15 leading universities, including four from top aging institutes, as well as a team of physicians to continually optimize their assessments and advice. Together, they evaluate up to 92 different markers of health across blood work, wearable data, and mental and physical strength assessments.

“Any annual physical isn’t enough because it’s too infrequent to understand if lifestyle interventions are making an impact,” Bowman said. “There’s typically only time to just confirm that you don’t have any illnesses, not to look for opportunities in your health. If you make a diet change or embrace a new meditation routine, do you want to wait another year to see how that impacts your health? Or just rely on how you feel when you wake up? We take a data-driven lens to assess holistic health.”

Health Numbers That Mean Something

While BellSant does not rely on gamification to keep users engaged over time, the accuracy of its feedback and how it highlights specific areas to address in a user’s fitness journey accomplishes the same goal.

“The tools most people are using today are very piecemeal, a wearable device trying to tell you it can score your health based on an optical sensor on your wrist, a CGM telling you glucose spikes should be your obsession, or a supplement telling you that they’ve solved the root cause of aging,” Bowman said. “We create a deeper way to track health regularly. We avoided day-to-day recovery scores to focus on your long-term health and wellbeing. By measuring your actual body and your functional capabilities, we give you a true sense over time of how your body and mind are evolving and how you can prioritize where you intervene.”

Biological Age is a key motivational factor within the BellSant product. This figure represents the age of your body’s systems, which moves faster or slower than your actual age based on your health-related decisions.

BellSant relies on researchers from Stanford University who fielded data from nearly 10,000 Americans and tracked their mortality rate over a 22-year period to make these calculations. A user’s 11 health systems are then compared to that data including energy, heart and lungs, liver and kidneys, hormones, immunity, mobility, nutrients, relationships, resilience, sleep and outlook. BellSant reports that 100% of users slow their pace of aging in at least one health system. 

“For the pace of aging, what we’ve done is deeply researched each of the health markers in the experience, and for most, we’ve uncovered values that are indicative of higher healthspans,” Bowman explained. “It is highly accurate, and tracking it over time gives members a clear picture of deeper and holistic progress.”

Ease of Use Drives Engagement

BellSant’s ease of use also encourages users to engage with the product. This applies in a physical sense, as blood tests can be taken at over 2,000 labs across the United States. It also applies in a technological sense when you get into the BellSant app’s capabilities. 

“Other services out there seemed cumbersome or hard to use and engage in regularly,” Bowman said. “With our mobile-first design, your health is always available in your pocket.”

The BellSant app connects to Apple Health, Google Fit, Whoop, Oura and a multitude of other fitness-tracking devices to gather more information on the user. This only adds to the product’s accuracy in relaying results and convenience. 

“We’ve also integrated lab testing directly with our partner Quest Diagnostics so orders and scheduling are all built-in, plus results show up as soon as we get them back,” Bowman noted. “If you have a high-risk value, you’ll get a call from our physicians in a matter of minutes.”

Learn more about how BellSant helps fitness partners attract, engage and retain members.