clairop

Method & sources

Last updated: 9 October 2026

Clairop is a general wellness app for people living with a diagnosed digestive condition. It does not replace professional medical care, diagnosis, or treatment. Always follow your healthcare provider's advice.

What Clairop is not

Clairop does not diagnose anything, does not recommend or adjust treatment, and does not measure anything using your phone. Every figure it shows is either something you typed, or arithmetic over things you typed.

It has not been evaluated by the FDA, the MHRA, Health Canada or the TGA, because it is not a medical device. If any app tells you what your disease is doing, or what to take, be careful. That is a different kind of product and it should be regulated.

FODMAP values

We are not affiliated with Monash University and we do not use their data or their certification mark. Our reference table is compiled from peer-reviewed food composition research and open databases, and every entry in the app displays the source it came from.

Where an ingredient is not in our table, the app says no data rather than assuming it is low. A verdict you cannot source is not a verdict.

Some ingredients name a category rather than a substance. “Natural flavouring” is the common one, and it genuinely can be derived from onion or garlic without saying so. Clairop scores what it can source and names those separately, so a rating is never quietly built on something we could not check.

Activity scores

Clairop calculates two published questionnaires from answers you have already given. Calculating a questionnaire is not the same as assessing a patient, and the app is careful never to present it as one.

Where an item needs a physical examination, it is left out and the omission is stated on the score and printed on the report, so a clinician can see exactly what was and was not collected before they read the number.

Trigger analysis

Food reactions in gut disease often arrive hours or days late, so every food you log is tested three times: against symptoms in the following 6 hours, 6 to 24 hours, and 1 to 3 days.

For each test we compare symptom severity after meals containing that food against meals without it, using a Mann-Whitney U test, and report the effect size alongside it. Because hundreds of comparisons are run at once, results are corrected for false discovery using the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure. Without that correction, testing 200 foods across 3 windows would throw up roughly 30 “triggers” by chance alone.

Nothing is shown at all until there are at least five meals with the food and five without. Below that the app says it does not know, because it does not.

These are associations. A food you always eat alongside your real trigger will look like a trigger too, and no amount of statistics can separate them from observation alone. Only a deliberate challenge can.

Your data

Symptom, bowel, meal and medication entries sync to your account so they survive a new phone. Meal photos stay on your device and are never uploaded to our servers.

When a photo is sent for food identification, nothing identifying you travels with it: no name, no email, no account ID, and none of your symptom history. Health values never appear in our analytics. You can export or permanently delete everything from your profile. The privacy policy has the detail.

Sources

  • Muir JG et al. Fructan and free fructose content of common Australian vegetables and fruit. J Agric Food Chem. 2007;55(16):6619-27.
  • Muir JG et al. Measurement of short-chain carbohydrates in common Australian vegetables and fruits by HPLC. J Agric Food Chem. 2009;57(2):554-65.
  • Biesiekierski JR et al. Quantification of fructans, galacto-oligosaccharides and other short-chain carbohydrates in processed grains and cereals. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2011;24(2):154-76.
  • Yao CK et al. Dietary sorbitol and mannitol: food content and distinct absorption patterns. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2014;27(Suppl 2):263-75.
  • Varney J et al. FODMAPs: food composition, defining cutoff values and international application. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017;32(Suppl 1):53-61.
  • Gibson PR, Shepherd SJ. Evidence-based dietary management of functional gastrointestinal symptoms: The FODMAP approach. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2010;25(2):252-8.
  • Harvey RF, Bradshaw JM. A simple index of Crohn's-disease activity. Lancet. 1980;1(8167):514.
  • Schroeder KW, Tremaine WJ, Ilstrup DM. Coated oral 5-aminosalicylic acid therapy for mildly to moderately active ulcerative colitis. N Engl J Med. 1987;317(26):1625-9.
  • Lewis SJ, Heaton KW. Stool form scale as a useful guide to intestinal transit time. Scand J Gastroenterol. 1997;32(9):920-4.
  • FSANZ Australian Food Composition Database; USDA FoodData Central.

Product and ingredient data from Open Food Facts, under the Open Database License.

Tell us if we're wrong

If you are a clinician or dietitian and something here looks wrong, please tell us. We would rather be corrected than trusted. clairop.support@gmail.com

Frequently asked questions

How does Clairop decide a food is a trigger?
For each food and each delay window, under 6 hours, 6 to 24 hours and 1 to 3 days, it compares symptom severity after meals containing the food against meals without it using a Mann-Whitney U test, reports the effect size, and corrects all results for false discovery with the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure.
Why does Clairop correct for false discovery?
Because testing hundreds of foods at once produces chance results. Testing 200 foods across three windows would throw up roughly 30 false triggers by chance alone, and each would be presented as a food to avoid. The Benjamini-Hochberg correction keeps that rate in check.
Why does Clairop wait for five meals with and without a food?
Below five of each, a comparison is close to a coin flip with a confident label on it. Clairop shows you the count instead and keeps waiting, so a result only appears when there is something to compare.
Where do Clairop's FODMAP values come from?
From a reference table compiled from peer-reviewed food-composition research and open databases, including FSANZ and USDA FoodData Central. Every entry in the app shows the source it came from. Clairop is not affiliated with Monash University and does not use its data or certification mark.
What is the most accurate FODMAP data source?
Laboratory measurement of the food itself is the most accurate, which is what the Monash University and FODMAP Friendly programmes do. Clairop does not run a lab; it uses published composition research, cites each value, and says no data when an ingredient is not covered rather than guessing.
Why does Clairop say no data for some products?
Because at least one ingredient is not in its reference table, or an ingredient names a category, like natural flavouring, that can hide onion or garlic. Clairop scores what it can source, names what it cannot, and never implies a food is low when it does not know.
Are Clairop's Crohn's and colitis scores the same as my doctor's?
They use the same published questionnaires, the Harvey-Bradshaw Index and PRO-2, but calculated from your own answers. Items that need a physical examination are left out and that is stated, so the score shows a trend you can discuss, not a clinical assessment.
Is Clairop a medical device?
No. Clairop does not diagnose, does not recommend or adjust treatment, and does not measure anything using your phone. Every figure is something you typed or arithmetic over it, and it has not been evaluated by the FDA, MHRA, Health Canada or TGA because it is not a medical device.