
About Nutrihand Inc.
Provide technology to help prevent, control
and manage chronic health conditions.
That is our mission.
The idea of Nutrihand started in 2001, when
software executive Soraya Bittencourt's health started
deteriorating rapidly due to diabetes. Soraya, the original
creator of Expedia, could not find any services or tools
available at the time to help control and better manage her
disease. She decided to start researching why there wasn't
anything available. Was it that difficult to create a software
application that could help? Soraya hired a couple of experts
who spent the next two years using ethnography to create
prototypes, test them and make a business case.
They found out that the reason why there was
not a service yet available was due to four challenges that were
very hard to overcome. A health management service focus on
consumers and providers needs to:
-
allow access to a very large database of
nutritional food facts and exercises
-
the ability to be
extremely personalized and adapt to the users needs
-
be an
affordable and available anywhere anytime, and
-
provide a connection
between consumers and healthcare professionals
After the challenges were identified and
solutions were created, the initial prototypes were released.
Soraya was the first one to use prototypes since their inception
before allowing others to use and try them for themselves. After
tracking meals, fitness and medical information for a month, she
started seeing changes in her weight and her sugars. After one
year of use, her A1C reduced by 1.3% and measured at
6%, which is very healthy for a person with type 1 diabetes.
This was the turning point when she decided
it was time to invest and build a company around this idea. The
technology could be used to help others manage their diabetes
and could also be applied to other diseases.
Nutrihand Timeline

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