Yes, your supplement should ideally change and adapt to changes in your health parameters. For example, after taking your current recommended supplement for 3 months, you could reassess yourself. If you feel different at that point (as compared to when you assessed yourself previously) your recommended combination will change accordingly. You can choose to receive the new combination in your next shipment.

Note that you can reassess at any time - on a monthly basis, or every few months, or when seasons change, or whenever you feel a noticeable difference in how you feel on a daily basis. Your 1Balance supplement will adapt to your changing needs.

At the moment, Personalization - Yes, but Customization - No.

Customization is possible and easier to do with vitamins and minerals. Vitamins and minerals generally don't interact with each other. Users can select specific vitamins and minerals (based on what they are deficient in) and these can be combined into a single pill to be consumed together. Or you could take them separately too, and the effect wouldn't be very different. A single pill certainly would be more convenient.

Whole herbs are different. It is important for the herbs in a combination to work well together, when packed into a single pill, or in general, when consumed together. Our algorithm pulls together a wide array of scientific data and expert inputs to get the best combination in place - herbs that work well with each other and combine effectively for a specific user profile.

Can users arrive at the best combinations on their own, based on their own limited research? We believe, in most cases, this might not be true. In most cases a customized combination (where the user selects the herbs to include) may not be as effective as the personalized combination that we recommend for that user. Hence, we currently offer only personalized combinations.

Having said that, we do keep refining our algorithm on a continuous basis - so that our recommendations and our combinations keep getting better. Controlled customization is part of our research and development roadmap and hopefully we will have some customization options soon.

You can visualise your health as a system which has a functional core. When your core health functions are in balance and performing well, you feel at your best. But then, there are always factors that push you away from this zone of balance. As the imbalances increase along key functional dimensions, minor conditions start to emerge. Move even further away from the zone, and major or chronic conditions are seen.

1Balance is primarily focused on the functional core. The 1Balance assessment determines the nature of your functional core and key dimensions of your health which are prone to getting imbalanced. The recommended supplements make it easier for your body to learn to regulate and balance itself along these dimensions, and stay in the “high quality of health” zone.

Standard vitamin and nutritional supplements provide nutrients, as per dietary guidelines, that are either a) lacking in your diet or b) are present in your diet but are not being sufficiently and efficiently absorbed by your body.

The former (a) is an apt scenario for vitamin or nutrient supplementation - if there is no way for you to modify your diet to fill the nutrient gap, supplementation might be the best alternative available to you.

The latter (b) on the other hand is indicative of functional health imbalance - just consuming more vitamins and nutrients is unlikely to solve the problem. You will have to get your metabolism back on track.

This is where your 1Balance supplement comes in. It consists of whole, multi-functional ingredients that are part of your food matrix and support your body’s natural health balancing mechanisms. It's a different kind of supplement - functional rather than nutritional.

1Balance supplements are made up of small amounts of whole herbs. Your body will react to these whole herbs in a manner similar to how it would react to any new whole food added to your regular diet. The nature of their effect on the body is similar to any other whole food - subtle, and gradual, and almost without exception, positive.

However, every individual is different - and sensitivities to specific herbs (or any food for that matter) can exist, and can, on rare occasions, show up in the form of minor adverse effects such as mild indigestion, skin irritation, mild drowsiness etc. In most cases, these effects will recede in a few days as the body adapts to the herbs. Sometimes, changing the pattern of consumption can help too (after meals). Taking many supplements at once, or supplements along with medication, can also result in interactions - in such cases, having a reasonable gap (say 30 minutes apart) usually helps.

In the unlikely case where there are persistent adverse effects, based on the nature of the effect, and based on information about other supplements or medication that you might be taking, we can have an expert review and recommend a different combination wherever relevant. Alternatively, if the causes lie elsewhere (say in your diet), the expert can suggest some changes to your diet or daily regime.

To be frank, it is truly difficult to provide a definitive answer to the question. So many parameters are involved - diet, lifestyle, how the body responds to these herbs, and our ability to observe and perceive subtle changes.

Typically, you should be able to perceive clear changes in 6-8 weeks. Many of our subscribers have reported seeing positive differences even within a couple of weeks.

What’s important to note is that the herbs are at work inside your body and gently nudging it towards balance. We recommend taking these supplements for at least 3 months to allow the subtle, health-supporting effects of these herbs to add up.

1Balance is also designed to adapt to your changing functional health needs. It is a good idea to reassess once every 3 months, and if your health profile parameters have changed, your supplement will change accordingly.