Consumer health · Digestive enzymes
Kiwi Biosciences
FODZYME is an enzyme powder that breaks down three fermentable carbohydrates in food before they reach the colon. It is a dietary supplement, not a drug, and the evidence behind it is two peer reviewed papers, both paid for by the company that sells it.
A quarter teaspoon on the pasta
A quarter teaspoon of fine powder goes onto the bowl of pasta before the first bite. Stir it in, or sprinkle it on and chew well. Nothing hotter than 140 degrees Fahrenheit, because the enzymes come apart above that.
That is the whole ritual. Nothing to swallow, nothing to take half an hour ahead.
The powder is the closest thing this company has to an origin story. Anjie Liu, who developed the formula, tried capsules first and tested them on herself against high fructan meals. On Reddit in 2021 she wrote that it did not work, and that enteric coatings and different timings failed too. Then she sprinkled the enzymes straight onto the food. Her explanation is mechanical: the enzymes must reach their targets before the stomach digests the enzymes themselves, and a capsule keeps them away from the molecules they are meant to act on.
The problem is the diet, not the food
FODMAPs are fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols: short chain carbohydrates that pass through the small intestine poorly, draw in water, and get fermented by gut bacteria in the colon. For some people that produces gas, distension and pain.
The standard answer, developed at Monash University, is to remove high FODMAP foods and reintroduce them in a structured way to find the individual triggers. The company’s own research brief cites the usual figure for the restriction phase: it helps 50 to 80 percent of people with irritable bowel syndrome.
The catch is what a long restriction costs. Garlic, onion, wheat, beans, lentils, nuts and dairy come out, and many are the fiber rich ones. Published concerns include reduced fiber intake, shifts in gut bacteria, social isolation and disordered eating patterns. Monash says the elimination phase is not meant to be permanent. An enzyme that acts on the carbohydrate rather than on the person is a different shape of answer. It does not treat anything. It changes the meal.
A patient and a stool camera
Kiwi Biosciences was founded in 2020 by two Harvard alumni. Anjie Liu took a joint degree in physics and comparative literature in 2017, then moved into biology. Her Y Combinator profile is blunt about why.
David Hachuel holds a master of public health in epidemiology from Harvard and a master’s in computer science from Cornell. Before Kiwi he co-founded auggi.ai, a computer vision system for characterizing stool, later acquired by Seed Health. Shalaka Samant, Yale trained in microbial biotechnology, leads research and development.
From a gut simulator to 118 customers
FODZYME reached the market in May 2021. Monash granted low FODMAP certification in March 2022, narrower than it sounds: one serve has been assessed as low in FODMAPs, and Monash receives a licence fee.
In May 2022 the company presented a poster at Digestive Disease Week; the work, run on Prodigest’s SHIME gut simulator in Ghent, was published that October. Earlier in house testing was never published: Liu described it on Reddit as blinded, randomized and placebo controlled, in healthy volunteers fed 40 g of fructan, and flagged the limitation herself.
Then the harder question. Between January and September 2024 the company surveyed its own online buyers before and after four weeks of use. SUNY Downstate investigators ran the analysis, published in February 2026. Of 1,075 baseline respondents, 349 came back at four weeks, and 118 met the inclusion criteria. Mean age 58, and 86 percent were women.
Meanwhile the British subsidiary, incorporated in July 2021 with Hachuel as sole director, was wound up. Shareholders resolved on a solvent liquidation in September 2024 and it was dissolved on 11 February 2026. A members’ voluntary winding up is the orderly kind, used when a company can pay its debts in full.
What is proven, and what is still claimed
| Evidence | What the record shows | Source type |
|---|---|---|
| In vitro study, 2023 | Gastro Hep Advances 2023;2(3). In the SHIME gut simulator, 1.125 g converted 90 percent of 3 g of inulin to fructose in 30 minutes; a half dose fell to 77.2 percent; doubling gained nothing. 70 percent of released fructose was absorbed in simulated small intestinal transit. Funded by Kiwi; three authors were employees, two paid advisors. Tests this product. | Peer reviewed |
| Human cohort study, 2026 | Gastro Hep Advances 2026;5(4). Single arm, open label, no control group. 1,075 baseline surveys, 349 follow ups, 118 analyzed. 78.0 percent reported improvement in bloating and flatulence, 65.3 percent in abdominal pain. Funded by Kiwi; two authors employees, one a shareholder; analysis by SUNY Downstate. Tests this product. | Peer reviewed |
| Registered trials | No ClinicalTrials.gov registration found in the September 2026 pull. Neither published study was a registered randomized trial. | Not found |
| The enzyme class | Randomized trials exist for two of the three enzymes, but on the ingredients, not on FODZYME. Tuck 2018 found alpha-galactosidase mitigated symptoms from galacto-oligosaccharides in IBS; Di Nardo 2013 was a placebo controlled trial in children. Lactase has decades of use. All cited in the company’s own brief. | Peer reviewed |
| FDA records | No 510(k), no premarket approval, no new dietary ingredient notification, no warning letter. None is expected for a supplement of common enzymes. Supplier Bio-Cat holds an NDI notification for a microbial inulinase; that one is not Kiwi’s. | Public record |
| Patents | Called patent pending since 2021. A Justia search for Kiwi Biosciences returned no patents or published applications as of September 2026. US Patent 10,716,308, on an enzyme exhibiting fructan hydrolase activity, belongs to Oy Karl Fazer Ab, a Finnish food company. | Not found |
| Monash certification | Granted March 2022. Monash states it has assessed the product as low in FODMAPs only, and that it receives a licence fee. | Certifier |
| UK subsidiary | Companies House 13528446, incorporated 23 Jul 2021. Wind up resolution 9 Sep 2024, declaration of solvency 26 Sep 2024, dissolved 11 Feb 2026. Solvent, not insolvency. | Public record |
Read plainly: the mechanism is the best supported part. A validated gut simulator showed the fructan enzyme doing what the label says, without wiping out the short chain fatty acids a strict elimination diet reduces. The human evidence is thinner than the marketing percentages suggest. It is one uncontrolled survey of people who had already bought the product, and the authors say the design cannot separate a real effect from expectation. That is a reasonable first study. It is not a randomized trial, and nobody involved says it is.
What to watch
- A registered randomized controlled trial in diagnosed patients. Liu said in 2021 that leading IBS researchers were eager to collaborate; five years on, no registration has appeared.
- Whether the polyol program ships as an enzyme. What arrived, PRS-01, is a synbiotic capsule at $180, listed out of stock.
- What the US entity does after the UK wind down, and whether new capital is raised.
- Whether marketing copy holds to structure and function language as the numbers get quoted more widely.
In their words
“I’ve struggled with chronic gut issues for most of my adult life, which led me to developing the current formulation of FODZYME and launching Kiwi Biosciences.”
Anjie Liu, co-founder, Y Combinator profile · Company profile
“Whether this translates to clinical value in patient populations is indeed yet to be proven.”
Anjie Liu, on her own early testing in healthy volunteers, Reddit, 2021 · Founder
“While further research is needed, this is a promising first report that enzymatic digestion may have the potential to decrease the burden of disorders of the gut-brain interaction, including IBS.”
Kaye and colleagues, Gastro Hep Advances, 2026 · Peer reviewed
“as a single-arm, open-label, prospective pre-post intervention study, patients actively sought out this treatment, so there is likely a strong bias toward perceived efficacy”
Kaye and colleagues, on their own study’s limits, 2026 · Peer reviewed
“the limited survey response rate from baseline to follow-up (11%) may impact the generalizability of the data, introducing the possibility for a selection bias”
Kaye and colleagues, 2026 · Peer reviewed
“A low FODMAP diet does not treat a disease but may help to meet nutritional needs with reduced gastrointestinal symptoms.”
Monash University certification statement, carried on the product’s own pages · Certifier
“As a real-world, open-label study, the results are promising, but more rigorous trials are still needed to confirm long-term effectiveness.”
EA Stewart, registered dietitian nutritionist, 2024 · Independent
Related companies
Sources
- Peer reviewedIn Vitro Efficacy of Targeted FODMAP Enzymatic Digestion
- Peer reviewedFODMAP-Targeting Digestive Enzyme Blend, cohort study
- Public recordStructure/Function Claims
- Public recordKiwi Biosciences UK Ltd, company 13528446
- Public recordPatent search, and US Patent 10,716,308
- Public recordRecords pull: FDA, ClinicalTrials.gov, NIH, NSF, SEC
- CertifierFODZYME: Digestive enzymes designed for FODMAPs
- IndependentFODZYME Digestive Enzyme: A Dietitian’s Review
- IndependentDoes FODZYME work? Dietitian review
- IndependentEnzyme supplement may offer FODMAP support
- FounderI developed and co-founded FODZYME. Ask me anything.
- CompanyKiwi Biosciences launch release
- CompanyResearch Brief on digestive enzymes
- CompanyFODZYME and PRS-01 product pages
- CompanyCompany profile and founder bios
Profile researched and written by Healthcare Discovery. Last updated September 29, 2026.
