South African gut-health platform · maag means stomach

Read your gut.
Eat for it.

Maag tests your microbiome at home, maps what's missing, and sends you a week of meals built around the bacteria you need to feed. One subscription — kit, report, food. No counting, no guessing.

Order your kit → or read how it works
shipping in 48h results in 14 days cancel any time
maag / home microbiome kit
kit no. 04-1782 · expires 2027-08
sample  A
A · day 1 B · day 3 C · day 5
contains: 3 collection tubes return paid
your week 02 box

Built for Akkermansia.

  • Mon · oat & flax porridge, blueberries
  • Tue · roast butternut, tahini, kale
  • Wed · lentil & rye, pickled red cabbage
  • Thu · grilled hake, fennel, brown rice
kits shipped 1,840
bacterial species ID'd 1,200+
meals delivered 38,400
SA-based · POPIA compliant · CSIR-accredited lab
how it works

Three steps. About a fortnight.

You don't need a clinician, a fast, or a Whatsapp group with strangers. Post a sample, read your report, eat the food that arrives.

01 test

Send a sample.

The kit collects three small samples over five days. Post it back in the prepaid box — Aramex picks up from your door.

maag / kit no. 0418
02 map

Read your gut.

The lab sequences your microbiome. You get a plain-English report on diversity, key species, and what to feed them.

diversity
7.4
akkermansia
low
f. prausnitzii
mid
bifidobacter.
good
butyrate prod.
mid
lactobacillus
good
03 eat

Get the food.

A weekly box of fresh ingredients and recipes — chosen for your gut, not a generic plan. Pause or skip anytime.

oat hake kale
tahini lentil fig
what we measure

Six readings that actually change what you eat.

We don't return a hundred-page PDF you'll never open. Six measurements, plotted against a healthy range, with one or two foods named per finding.

  • diversity Shannon index — how many distinct species share the room. Higher is more resilient.
  • key species Akkermansia, F. prausnitzii, Bifidobacter. — the keystone tenants. Named individually, not lumped.
  • SCFA Butyrate, acetate, propionate — what the bacteria make from your fibre. The fuel your gut lining runs on.
  • balance Firmicutes / Bacteroidetes ratio — the two big phyla. Reported as context, not a verdict.
  • inflammation Pro-inflammatory load — counts of species linked to gut-lining irritation.
  • food signals Fibre, polyphenol & fermented-food fits — which of your current foods are working and which aren't.
maag / report · 04-1782

Your gut, May 2026

7.4
diversity / 10
key species 2 of 4 below range
Akkermansia muciniphila · low 0.4%
F. prausnitzii · low-mid 2.1%
Bifidobacterium spp. · good 6.8%
Lactobacillus spp. · good 3.4%
SCFA producers in range
Butyrate-producing · mid 8.2%
Propionate-producing · good 11.4%
→ feed first: oats, ground flax, pomegranate, dark cocoa, fermented vegetables — for Akkermansia and butyrate production.
this week's box

Four dinners. Built for your gut.

Every box is different. These four are tuned for low Akkermansia and mid butyrate — the most common finding for new members in their first month.

roast butternut bowl with tahini and kale
mon · 35 min

Roast butternut, tahini, kale & barley.

↑ akkermansia · fibre 14g · polyphenols
spiced lentils with rye and pickled red cabbage
tue · 30 min

Spiced lentils, rye, pickled red cabbage.

↑ butyrate · fibre 18g · fermented
grilled hake fillet with fennel and brown rice
wed · 25 min

Grilled hake, fennel, brown rice, dill.

↑ diversity · omega-3 · fibre 9g
chickpea and spinach curry with brown basmati
thu · 40 min

Chickpea & spinach curry, brown basmati.

↑ f. prausnitzii · fibre 16g · polyphenols
portrait · Naledi M.
a member, six months in

I'd been bloated after lunch for years and quietly assumed it was just me. The report named two species I was missing, the box arrived on Monday, and by week six the bloat was gone. The food is also just — good.

Naledi M., 34 · Cape Town
member since November · diversity 6.1 → 7.4
+21%
avg diversity at 90d
3 of 4
report less bloating
R 0
food waste — fresh weekly
pricing

One subscription. Kit, report, food.

A single plan, flat in rand. Re-test every six months at no extra cost. Pause the food box any week — your account, your call.

the maag plan

Full loop.

Everything you need to test, read, and eat for your gut. Four dinners a week for two people.

  • —Home microbiome kit (3 samples) — re-test every 6 months
  • —Plain-English report + named foods to add
  • —Four dinners a week, fresh ingredients for two
  • —Weekly recipe cards in English, Afrikaans & isiZulu
  • —Pause, skip or cancel any week
14-day money back · no card games
R 1,890 / month
R 750 once-off for the first kit
Order your kit →
delivery in Cape Town, Joburg, Durban, PTA · countrywide via Aramex
the lab work

Done in South Africa, by people whose names we publish.

No black box. The sequencing is done at a CSIR-accredited lab in Pretoria using shotgun metagenomics — the same method used in clinical research, not the cheaper 16S kits that read genus only.

1,200+
species resolved
Shotgun metagenomics, not 16S — strain-level where the data supports it.
14 days
sample to report
Lab turnaround, including the courier hop from your door to Pretoria and back.
v2.3
reference database
Continuously updated against published SA-cohort and Human Microbiome Project data.
popia
your sample, your data
Stored under POPIA. Deletable on request. Never sold, never licensed — we wrote that into the contract.
questions worth answering

The questions we keep being asked.

If yours isn't here, write to hello@maag.co.za — a real person replies, usually the same day.

  • How is this different from a stool test from a clinic?

    A clinic stool test looks for pathogens — parasites, C. difficile, blood. Maag does not. We sequence the bacteria that should be there and report on balance. They answer different questions; both have a place.

  • Is the food medical? Vegan? Halaal?

    The food is dinner — fresh, cooked at home, designed by a registered SA dietitian. We can build vegetarian, pescatarian or halaal boxes. Strict allergens (gluten, dairy, nuts) we cannot fully isolate yet — see the allergens page.

  • What if my gut report is fine?

    Many are. The food still gets tuned for diversity and resilience — there is always something to feed.

  • Do you ship to small towns?

    Yes — fresh boxes to the four metros, dry pantry boxes via Aramex everywhere else. The kit ships everywhere.

  • What does this cost me long term?

    R 1,890 / month, flat. R 750 once for the first kit. Re-tests are included. Pause any week. No medical fee, no clinician gate.

Know your maag.
Eat for it.

Order your kit → R 750 once · ships in 48h