Natsuki Suganuma

About 1,000 species and 40 trillion bacteria live in our guts. This community of bacteria living in the gut is called the “gut flora,” and it has become clear that it holds the key to our health. So by eating in a way that suits each person’s gut flora, it is said, we can build bodies that are less likely to get sick.
bacterico Inc. (bacterico) works with the mission of creating health and happiness for people through gut flora care tailored to each individual. We spoke with CEO Natsuki Suganuma, who says, “I see great potential in gut flora.”

Thinking about wishes such as “I want to have my baby safely,” “I want to lose weight,” or “I want to get rid of constipation” from the gut

The gut flora care we provide is, so to speak, personalized gut health support. Using a simple test kit, we test what kinds of bacteria live in a person’s gut. Based on that data, registered dietitians give individual nutritional guidance tailored to each person.

Among our services, mamaflora has registered dietitians give detailed advice on diet from pregnancy through childbirth, based on gut bacteria data from pregnant women. Gut flora during pregnancy is very important. Some research shows that improving a pregnant woman’s gut flora reduces the risks of premature birth, gestational diabetes, and even the baby’s future obesity.

This service, which supports families’ wish that “the baby will be born safely” through gut health, has been well received by many people.

We also offer gut testing and individual nutritional guidance for people who care about their health and people who value performance in business, sports, and more. We approach each person’s “ideal self,” such as wanting a body that gains weight less easily or wanting to boost immunity, from the gut.

As services for companies, we also develop new businesses and products related to maintaining health and preventing disease through joint research with their researchers, and provide gut testing and nutritional guidance for employees as part of benefit programs.

Is it really a “healthy food” for you? Why knowing your own gut environment matters

The gut is like a big company with 40 trillion “employees” at work. The “company” each of us has is different. A company with excellent people grows its business, which means better health, and the opposite can also happen.

Suppose you bring in a “new employee” called Bacterium A. No matter how excellent that person is, they may or may not be a good fit for the company, right? The gut is the same. No matter how good the beneficial bacteria or food you take in, some people are a good match and some are not.

Even foods generally said to be “good for you” may or may not be effective depending on the types and proportions of bacteria in a person’s gut. That is why it is important to know your own gut flora through testing. Knowing it properly and caring for it can improve immunity and help predict the risk of obesity and lifestyle diseases. There is also research suggesting it can help prevent cancer, diabetes, and dementia.

In recent years, Japan’s average life expectancy has kept rising. However, the “unhealthy period” with limits on daily life exceeds 12 years for women, so healthy life expectancy has not risen along with it. “Spending those extra years in good health” also helps maintain quality of life. It is no exaggeration to say that gut flora holds the key.

We are now gradually starting to expand not only in Japan but overseas as well. Many countries in the world lack public health insurance systems, and people in those countries are highly conscious of preventing disease; they are in fact paying attention to our service.

Anyone can stay healthy with effort

In high school, I wanted to become a doctor. Once, during a work experience program at a hospital, I encountered a patient dying young of illness. I felt then that curing disease is of course important, but preventing it is important too, and I decided to become a researcher in preventive medicine.

After finishing graduate school, wanting to “make people healthy through food,” I joined a major food manufacturer in Osaka. I was assigned to the gut bacteria research team. There, I learned how important it is to improve gut flora to prevent disease, and that anyone can improve their gut flora by changing their diet. I saw great potential in the fact that people can become healthy through their own efforts.

Having researched gut bacteria at my previous job, I founded bacterico in Osaka, a city I have ties with. Since founding the company, I have been juggling three roles, also working as a researcher and as a faculty member at Keio University’s Faculty of Pharmacy. bacterico now has about 15 members. I work with people who, like me, are also researchers, and registered dietitians who cannot work full time because they are raising children but can give guidance online.

As a woman myself, offering ways of working in which pregnancy and childbirth do not hinder careers is also our mission. Like gut flora, we aim to be a company where people in all kinds of situations can work while making the most of their own careers.

We will keep taking on challenges with the mission of “supporting people’s physical and mental health with the power of gut bacteria.”

How We Used OIH

I had decided to take part in “only one pitch a year,” and the one I applied for was the award hosted by the Osaka Industrial Promotion Organization, “1st HeCNOS AWARD,” where we won in the healthcare category. We also received prize money through the Corporate Supporter Awards (Biosight Capital Award and TIS Award). We are continuing to move the business forward, aiming to exhibit in the “Exhibition Zone” of the Osaka Healthcare Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.