BATON ROUGE — A health and wellness company in Baton Rouge is teaming up with the Louisiana Department of Health to provide Louisiana residents with free immune system testing kits.

The tests aim to help people understand how their immune system reacts to certain respiratory illnesses. The company, called Phenomune, has been developing new ways to give people a personalized look at their health.

"What we've created is essentially an at-home, non-invasive taste test, and so what it does is measure each person's level of expression of this family of receptors, and that expression is associated with one's outcome to upper respiratory infections," Phenomune's Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Henry Barham said. "You have an innate immune system, which is your initial barrier of defense, and so that's what this is measuring."

Barham said the test kits are the result of over a decade of research, and thanks to a partnership with LDH, they're free for Louisiana residents, shipping to your home in days.

According to Phenomune, the tests are a better, more comfortable way to assess your health without needing to do things like draw blood.

"You can take the test now, well before cold and flu season, and the point is about knowing about yourself, and things that you can do to improve it so that you don't get sick as frequently," Barham said.

Barham said the tests allow patients to be more proactive in preventing illnesses rather than just getting treatment when an illness occurs.

"Knowing more about yourself, I think that ultimately is the biggest thing. Making sure that knowledge and that information is grounded in science, so that they can make better decisions to take care of themselves," Barham said.

The tests come with four tabs containing strips that are placed on the tongue. After putting a strip on your tongue for a few seconds, you then record how it tasted on the Phenomune app.

"No one's answers are right or wrong; everyone is going to taste something differently. The tastes can be Unpleasant, bitter, no taste at all, etc," Alison Stott with Phenomune said.

It will then give you a score based on your innate immune system.

"Those who have low expression may be more susceptible to getting upper respiratory infections, or when they get an upper respiratory infection, they may have more prolonged symptoms," Phenomune's Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Jimmy White said. "For those patients, if they understand that about themselves, they can be more proactive in terms of seeking treatment earlier."

The results can also be shared with the patient's doctor.

"It also gives you education on ways to improve it (the score), if you need to do that, or things you might be doing that's actually kind of holding you back a little bit," Barham said.

To Barham and White, it's about making sure that people have the power in their own health and well-being, and giving them the tools to do so.

State leaders are also involved in piloting the project, claiming that it'll reduce strain on the healthcare system.

White said the tests are mainly for people ages 12 and up, but all ages can use them.

To request a test kit, click here.