In 2026, you can track your sleep to the minute, your heart rate continuously, and your blood oxygen in real time. With wearables, we have built a remarkable instrument panel for the human body. But left one critical system completely dark.
The gut influences your immune function, metabolism, mood, and long-term disease risk, and the U.S. gut health market generates an estimated $15.8 billion annually.
And yet it has no tool that tells you, daily, whether any of it is working. That gap is the most consequential white space in consumer health right now.
The gut health category is booming. Coca-Cola launched its first prebiotic soda, and Olipop scaled from under $1 million in 2019 to roughly $500 million in 2024.
Meanwhile, science-led probiotic brands like Seed Health, Pendulum Therapeutics, and Supergut built many-million-dollar businesses. The GLP-1 wave created an entirely new layer of demand.
And through all of it, 84% of Americans say they care about gut health, while the majority have no way of knowing whether anything they’re doing is working. Although the category sells products, it does not yet produce daily, continuous, usable data.Through my work leading a media capital fund, where we speak with hundreds of growth-stage consumer founders every year, one pattern recurs: The most durable companies build daily feedback loops that give consumers a reason to come back.
In gut health, that loop is still largely missing, and some of the more interesting founders in the space are starting to focus on building it.
Throne, for example, is approaching gut health through passive data collection. Their device clips onto a standard toilet and uses computer vision to track stool patterns and hydration, generating a daily gut health score without requiring any behavior change.
In contrast, Tiny Health is built around infant microbiome testing, focusing on early-life data using age-specific benchmarks rather than adult references. Their work highlights how precision, not just access, may be critical in making gut health insights actionable.
Both Throne and Tiny Health operate in the gut-health space, yet still without a Poppi moment. That will change.
Despite rising awareness, a 2025 U.S. Ipsos survey found only 51% of Americans had heard of the “gut microbiome,” and just 27% said they knew exactly what it means. The good news is that research shows a direct line between education and category growth.
When consumers are given clear, accessible information about how biotics (specialized dietary components and microorganisms that enhance the gut microbiome) work, nearly 30% of non-users express interest in trying them.
The gut health category is producing its second generation of winners, and they look more like health platforms than traditional consumer packaged goods brands. Gut health is data-connected and built around the feedback loop that the industry has been missing.
From my vantage point at MFG, this shift matters. As these brands mature, the challenge will be to scale brand awareness and trust to a level that matches the sophistication of what they’ve built.
Diana Florescu is the CEO and founder at mediaforgrowth.
