At Throne, we understand that transparency and scientific rigor are essential for earning your trust. That’s why we chose the domain ThroneScience.com , to underscore our commitment to sound science. We also recognize that accuracy isn’t just a feature—it’s a baseline expectation if you’re going to rely on Throne to make informed decisions about your health. Below, we’ll explain the science behind the biomarkers we choose to track, how Throne tracks each biomarker, and the steps we’re taking to ensure our results meet the highest standards of reliability and precision.
Beta Program: A Citizen Science Journey Currently, our metrics are unverified as we are in Beta. One of the primary motivations for our Beta program is to validate our measurements and refine the science behind Throne.
Every participant in our Beta program is a citizen scientist , helping us improve the product across all dimensions, from user experience to scientific accuracy.
As a heartfelt thank-you, every Beta user who buys a device will receive a free v1 Throne device when we formally launch.
Throughout this Beta phase, we are also collaborating with clinical researchers to perform validation studies for the biomarker data our device captures.
Let’s dive deeper into the science behind some of Throne’s key features.
Gut Health Stool frequency and consistency Why track stool frequency and consistency? Tracking stool frequency and consistency serves as the foundation for understanding digestive health. Consider three scenarios: one person doesn’t poop for four days, another poops once a day, and a third poops seven times in a single day. It’s immediately clear which scenario reflects a healthy digestive system and which two suggest potential issues.
The Rome IV criteria for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) —a condition that affects 16.7% to 24.2% of Americans —highlight the critical role of stool form and frequency in diagnosing the condition. These metrics are not just markers of gut health; they offer actionable insights into how lifestyle choices, dietary habits, and medical conditions influence digestive function. By monitoring stool frequency and consistency, individuals can better understand their gut health and make informed decisions to improve their overall well-being.
How Throne tracks stool frequency and consistency Measuring stool frequency is straightforward: every time you use the device or log a bowel movement in the app, a record is saved. This ensures that frequency data is as accurate as the user’s compliance—if you record all your bowel movements, you’ll have 100% accuracy for this metric. Simple as.
We strive to make compliance as easy as possible — you can track your bowel movements with or without a device. Using a Throne device, tracking becomes essentially passive.
Stool consistency is assessed using the Bristol Stool Scale (BSS) , a standardized method for categorizing stool form. Throne’s BSS model has been trained on images labeled by licensed physicians, providing a reliable ground truth for stool categorization. Moreover, Throne incorporates a feedback loop to improve accuracy over time. If a user disagrees with the model’s output, they can manually edit the BSS score within the app, flagging that session for anonymized review and re-labeling by physician data labelers.
A recent study highlights the effectiveness of AI in stool analysis. The study demonstrated that AI achieves high accuracy in assessing stool characteristics, including BSS, consistency, fragmentation, edge fuzziness, and volume, when compared with expert gastroenterologists. Additionally, the AI outperformed patients’ self-reports in categorizing BSS scores.
Throne’s AI stool analysis provides an objective and consistent measure of stool characteristics, free from the biases of self-reporting. This not only enhances the reliability of the data but also enables users to gain actionable insights into their gut health without having to think “What was the consistency of that poop?”
Digestive transit time Why track digestive transit time (DTT)? Digestive Transit Time (DTT) measures the time it takes for food to travel through the digestive tract, from ingestion to being passed as stool. DTT is a cornerstone metric for understanding the relationship between what you eat and how your digestive system processes it.
An ideal DTT is considered to be 24 hours or less, though the range can vary widely, from 10 to 73 hours or more. Because this range is so broad, understanding your individual DTT is crucial. By knowing your personal DTT, Throne can begin to pinpoint which meals correspond to specific bowel movements and uncover patterns about how different foods affect your gut. Over time, this empowers you to identify the ingredients that are best—and worst—for your digestive health.
Interestingly, a study of 863 participants in the UK and US found that DTT follows a bimodal distribution. About 49% of participants had a DTT of one day (± 4.5 hours), while 21.5% had a DTT of two days (± 4 hours). This variability underscores the importance of knowing your personalized measurement, helping you take control of your gut health with data tailored to your unique biology.
Blue poo: impact of gut transit time on the gut microbiome using a novel marker How Throne tracks gut transit time (GTT) Throne measures gut transit time using the blue dye method. You ingest a food containing blue food dye and record the time from ingestion to the first appearance of blue coloration in the stool. This simple and cost-effective technique provides a scalable way to assess gut transit time without the need for specialized equipment or clinical visits.
The blue dye method has been validated as a reliable marker for gut transit time, offering stronger associations with gut microbiome composition than traditional proxies such as stool consistency and frequency. As noted in the study:
"Gut transit time, measured via the blue dye method, is a more informative marker of gut microbiome function than traditional measures of stool consistency and frequency. This method is inexpensive, scalable, and well-tolerated, making it suitable for large-scale epidemiological studies"(Blue Poo- impact of gut…).
Additionally, the method has been shown to correlate significantly with the diversity and functional profiles of the gut microbiome:
"Transit time measured from the ingestion of blue muffins to the first appearance of blue in stool was significantly associated with microbial alpha diversity, as well as specific gut microbial species such as Akkermansia muciniphila, Bacteroides spp., and Alistipes spp."(Blue Poo- impact of gut…).
Strain and Time on Toilet Why is it important to monitor strain and toilet time? Spending excessive time on the toilet or straining during bowel movements can pose significant health risks, including weakened pelvic floor muscles, hemorrhoids, and rectal prolapse. Experts recommend limiting bathroom sessions to no more than 10 minutes , as prolonged sitting increases pressure on the rectal area, compressing blood vessels and muscles. This can lead to venous engorgement, raising the likelihood of hemorrhoids and pelvic floor dysfunction. Additionally, difficulty or excessive strain during bowel movements may point to underlying issues such as IBS or, in more severe cases, colorectal cancer.
Throne also tracks the time to first evacuation, a key indicator of bowel health. A prolonged time to first evacuation can be a sign of constipation, as it suggests difficulty initiating bowel movements. Conversely, a very short time to first evacuation may indicate a sensation of urgency, which is often associated with conditions like diarrhea or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
By tracking strain, toilet time, and evacuation patterns, individuals can adopt healthier habits, mitigate risks, and seek medical advice when necessary. These insights not only improve digestive health but also encourage greater mindfulness about bathroom routines.
How does Throne assess strain and time? Total session duration is currently measured from the moment a session is initiated to the initiation of the flush. In the future, we aim to incorporate proximity sensors to capture precise timestamps of when a user is seated on the toilet. This enhancement will provide a more accurate measure of time spent on the toilet, even in cases of multi-flush sessions.
To analyze evacuation events, Throne uses a trained AI model that compares adjacent video frames to detect changes, enabling the creation of a detailed timeline pinpointing each evacuation event within a session.
By combining this evacuation timeline with Bristol Stool Scale scores for individual events, Throne generates a Strain score, a novel metric Throne is refining in collaboration with our medical advisors.
Hydration Hydration Status Why track hydration status? Hydration is essential for maintaining nearly every aspect of health, from cognitive function to physical performance. Even mild dehydration can impair memory, focus, and mental clarity, while more significant deficits can lead to fatigue, dizziness, and decreased endurance. Beyond these immediate effects, chronic dehydration is linked to long-term health risks, including kidney stones, urinary tract infections, and an increased likelihood of falls, particularly in older adults .
Dehydration decreases physical endurance and strength while increasing perceived exertion , making it harder to perform at your best. Proper hydration supports recovery, optimizes cardiovascular function, and helps regulate body temperature during exercise.
While subjective assessments like “eyeballing it” may give you a rough idea of your hydration status, Throne provides a precise and objective understanding by analyzing your hydration metrics with advanced AI. This approach ensures accuracy and eliminates the guesswork, giving you confidence in the data.
Additionally, tracking hydration with Throne gives you the ability to see historical trends in your data. Over time, you can begin to understand how your hydration levels affect various aspects of your health, from sleep quality and exercise performance to mental clarity and mood. You can’t draw meaningful correlations with data you don’t have—Throne ensures you have the insights you need to make informed decisions and optimize your overall well-being.
How Throne tracks hydration status Throne uses advanced colorimetric analysis to evaluate hydration status by measuring the yellow intensity of urine. This approach leverages the CIE La b* color space, a gold standard in color science, to objectively assess lightness, green-red chromaticity, and blue-yellow chromaticity. The b value, which reflects yellow intensity, is particularly critical as studies confirm that the b value correlates strongly with urine osmolality (r = 0.741) and specific gravity (r = 0.811)
By mapping the yellow intensity of urine to urine osmolality, Throne applies a regression equation derived from validated research to estimate hydration levels with precision. This methodology allows Throne to provide an accurate and consistent assessment of hydration that eliminates the biases associated with subjective color assessments.
Urinary Flow Rate Why Track Urinary Flow Rate? Urinary flow rate provides valuable insights into bladder health and urinary habits, offering a way to monitor trends that may reflect overall wellness. By evaluating the speed, volume, and duration of urine flow, individuals can gain a clearer picture of their urinary patterns and how they may relate to factors such as hydration or general bladder function. Regular tracking can help individuals make lifestyle decisions to support urinary health, such as staying properly hydrated or adopting behaviors that promote a healthy bladder.
Research has established links between maintaining a healthy urinary system and promoting overall wellness. For instance, staying hydrated and practicing healthy urinary habits can contribute to bladder comfort and efficiency as people age. By monitoring urinary flow trends, individuals can be proactive about maintaining general urinary health and identifying changes that may warrant discussion with a healthcare provider.
How Throne tracks urinary flow rate Throne employs sonouroflowmetry , a method that uses sound analysis to estimate urinary flow rate. A microphone captures the sound of the urinary stream as it enters the toilet bowl, and this audio data is processed to extract meaningful information about flow patterns. The first step of the processing is to mask non-urine sounds from the data we collect with audio source separation, leaving only the sound of urine flow. Throne then creates flow rate curves by analyzing sound energy variations over time, offering insights into the speed and consistency of urinary flow.
This method is powered by an AI model trained with hundreds of hours of ground-truth data. The data includes recordings of known flow rates from specific heights above the toilet bowl, collected using a custom-built data acquisition system. The AI leverages this robust dataset to reliably translate sound patterns into accurate urinary flow metrics.
Research has shown that sonouroflowmetry closely correlates with traditional uroflowmetry , demonstrating its ability to provide non-invasive, home-based monitoring of urinary flow parameters. By integrating this cutting-edge technology, Throne enables users to track their urinary health conveniently and effectively in their own homes.
