Bollywood actor and entrepreneur Suniel Shetty, who recently made a significant investment in city-based epigenetic lifestyle modification firm, Vieroots Wellness Solutions, said ‘live long and stay productive’ is a booming niche in the health technology space globally, and India will witness lots of action in this domain with Bengaluru taking a lead this movement.
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Excerpts from an interview:
What is epigenetics and how does it enhance the life and productivity of humans?
Epigenetics is proven to provide us the genetic predispositions (such studies can reveal over 200 health parameters). That means, knowing in advance what are the probable and possible diseases that can affect you, and detour them through personalised lifestyle management. It is about effectively avoiding, say diabetes, BP or any other ailments that you may get in your life through lifestyle corrections or knowing about such possibilities very early in life so that you can prevent them.
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What attracted you to Vieroots that works around epigenetics?
This company does some unbelievable AI-driven research in epigenetics, the study of how behaviours and environment can affect the way our genes work. People are more health-conscious and they want to live longer. As people live longer, it is important that they also stay productive, and for that, they should be able to keep their energy levels high throughout. Vieroots offers a platform that educates, gives an opportunity to people to understand their biological, genetic and mental makeup.
Vieroots talks about touching the lives of millions of people in India. How?
Vieroots has a mission to create lifestyle modification in one crore people by 2025, so that they live a long healthy life, performing at peak levels in all areas. This firm is currently in the process of creating a pool of over 10,000 lifestyle coaches. Its medical and genetic experts can create a highly personalised wellness management plan for users based on their genetics and metabolism. This will also create better job opportunities for graduates in medical, dental, biotechnology, nanotechnology, genomics, biology/ zoology and other life science disciplines.
You have been bullish on health space for a long time. How much have you invested in health and wellness so far?
I am very conscious when it comes to investments, but I never would like to talk about it. My investment in Vieroots is ‘significant’. Honestly, I believe my contribution to these apps and biohacking is equally important because I truly walk the talk, especially when it comes to healthy living. Fortunately, I am the one who understood the right way of living very early in my life. So all my investments are smart investments and I am super excited about them. Yes, health and wellness have been my favourite spaces. I’ve made many investments, including in men’s grooming startup Beardo and an online fitness community, SQUATS.
Being a long-haul ambassador of fitness/ wellness, what will be your personal contribution to Vieroots’ research initiatives in Bengaluru?
Yes, I’ve been knowing and also tracking health for several years. It’s a combination of things. There is the beauty of Ayurveda, the beauty of biohacking, the beauty of eating right, the goodness of probiotics, the gluten factor, plus all the other aspects. So it’s a combination of too many things: good practices, learning, experiences, benefits of Ayurveda, yoga, right fitness/ training and also eating right. My experiences in all these will help Vieroots in the long run.
How important is hyper personalisation in biohacking for holistic health and productive ageing?
That’s where Vieroots will be using the power of AI. The beauty of biohacking is that when you look at ageing as a disease, then you can help slow the entire process by keeping it simple, by following a disciplined lifestyle, by right eating habits, the right food, the right amount of food and nutrition and training that matches. This also means staying mentally and physically happy, understanding your genetics and avoiding problems in life. To start with, you need to know yourself and your gut in depth. Once you realise what can change your life, or where you are headed, you certainly will have better control over your health.