How Minthe works
Four steps, in order. The last one is the one almost every other app skips, and it is the only one that turns a suspicion into something you can rely on.
1. Log, fast enough that you keep doing it
The best tracking method is the one you will still be using in three weeks. Minthe gives you several ways in so you can pick per meal rather than committing to one:
- Photo scan. Snap the plate. Minthe breaks it into likely culprits and deliberately demotes incidental oils and condiments.
- Label scan. Point at a packaged ingredient list. It reads E-numbers and the aliases that hide fermentable additives, gums, sweeteners and dairy derivatives.
- Type it. Search a dish and the composite gets broken into its parts automatically.
Symptoms take a few taps: bloating with severity and location, gas, pain, reflux, nausea, early satiety, brain fog, plus stool form on the Bristol scale. Sleep, stress, cycle phase and water carry through from Apple Health or a quick daily note.
2. Notice, once there is genuinely something to notice
Minthe compares each food against your own base rate rather than against zero, and evaluates it across several delay windows because gut reactions are rarely immediate. Nothing reaches you until it clears four gates covering how many times you were exposed, how big the effect is, how wide the uncertainty is, and whether it stands apart from your usual rate.
Until then you will see "not enough data yet", which is the honest answer. The full method is published if you want to check our working.
3. Test, instead of guessing
When a suspect looks real, Minthe offers to test it properly. For a suspected trigger that means several spaced challenge days with washout in between. For a food you think settles things, it means a block design, roughly a week on and a week off, because carryover is real.
The schedule works around what you have already logged, so if you have been consistent for a fortnight it can often skip the settling period entirely.
4. Know, including when the answer is no
A test either holds up or it does not. Both results are worth having. Ruling a food back in is often the more valuable outcome, because most people arrive at an app like this having already cut out more than they needed to.
Guided programs, when food is not the whole story
Sometimes the pattern is timing or physiology rather than a specific ingredient. Minthe ships short structured programs for the common shapes of this: morning bloating reset, evening wind-down, reflux calm, trapped gas, and a constipation plan. Each has a defined measure and reads out a verdict at the end rather than leaving you to judge it.
Lab results, in context
If you have had testing done, you can enter it. Minthe distinguishes between tests with real evidence behind them and tests it treats sceptically, and it says which is which. Validated markers such as calprotectin, elastase and H. pylori feed into the engine to reprioritise what it looks at. Functional-medicine markers are shown for completeness and routed back to the clinician who ordered them, without an in-app verdict.
Minthe is a wellness and self-tracking tool, not a medical device. It does not diagnose or treat any condition and isn't a substitute for professional medical advice. If you have red-flag symptoms such as blood in your stool, unintentional weight loss, difficulty swallowing, persistent vomiting or a fever alongside gut symptoms, see a clinician rather than tracking them.
Frequently asked
How long before Minthe shows me anything?
Usually one to two weeks. The first thing it needs is your personal base rate, which means enough logged days to know how often you get symptoms in general. Individual foods take longer, because a suspect needs several separate exposures before it can clear the surfacing gates.
Do I have to log every single meal?
No, and the app is built assuming you will not. A day you did not log is treated as unknown rather than as a symptom-free day, so gaps reduce how fast patterns emerge but they do not corrupt the results.
What if I already know some of my triggers?
Log them as normal and go straight to a guided test if you want confirmation. You can also record lab results you already have, such as a coeliac screen or a SIBO breath test, and Minthe will use them to prioritise which suspects it looks at first.
Can I export my data for a doctor?
Yes. Minthe exports a CSV of your raw logs and a clinician-oriented PDF summary, both free. There is also an IBS severity score based on the IBS-SSS questionnaire, which is a standard instrument your clinician may already recognise.