Self-monitoring has been described as the """"""""cornerstone of the behavioral treatment of obesity"""""""" . Consistent self-monitoring of energy intake is associated with improved dietary adherence and weight loss and maintenance. The problem is that individuals are notoriously bad at self-monitoring their intake and suffer from an underreporting bias. The significance of the proposed work is that it will make a low-cost intake monitoring device widely available for use in behavioral weight loss treatment and research. Our innovative intake monitoring method uses sensors embedded into a watch-like device to automatically track wrist motion to count bites and provide intake feedback during a meal, allowing individuals to self-monitor intake anywhere and anytime. In Phase 1, the method was shown to accurately count bites across a wide variety of foods, utensils and subject demographics, and to provide an unbiased intake measurement. Additional studies show people will use the device long-term and prefer our method over a manual method. The proposed work will continue to improve the bite counting method by adapting to varying eating rates, develop a self-managed bite count based weight loss protocol, and perform an independent test of the protocol.

Public Health Relevance

The significance of the proposed work is that it will make a low-cost intake monitoring device widely available for use in weight loss treatment and research. Dietary self-monitoring is critical to weight loss. However, automatic dietary self-monitoring tool are lacking. Thus individuals trying to lose weight are left to manually record what they eat, which results in transient dietary self-monitoring and ultimately failed weight loss. Our innovativ technology automates self-monitoring, providing objective feedback and promoting long-term use.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Type
Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Grants - Phase II (R42)
Project #
2R42DK091141-02
Application #
8714599
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1)
Program Officer
Densmore, Christine L
Project Start
2011-01-01
Project End
2016-04-30
Budget Start
2014-05-01
Budget End
2015-04-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Bite Technologies, LLC
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Pendleton
State
SC
Country
United States
Zip Code
29670
Mattfeld, Ryan S; Muth, Eric R; Hoover, Adam (2017) Measuring the Consumption of Individual Solid and Liquid Bites Using a Table-Embedded Scale During Unrestricted Eating. IEEE J Biomed Health Inform 21:1711-1718
Yiru Shen; Salley, James; Muth, Eric et al. (2017) Assessing the Accuracy of a Wrist Motion Tracking Method for Counting Bites Across Demographic and Food Variables. IEEE J Biomed Health Inform 21:599-606
Mattfeld, Ryan S; Muth, Eric R; Hoover, Adam (2017) A comparison of bite size and BMI in a cafeteria setting. Physiol Behav 181:38-42
Jasper, Phillip W; James, Melva T; Hoover, Adam W et al. (2016) Effects of Bite Count Feedback from a Wearable Device and Goal Setting on Consumption in Young Adults. J Acad Nutr Diet 116:1785-1793
Salley, James N; Hoover, Adam W; Wilson, Michael L et al. (2016) Comparison between Human and Bite-Based Methods of Estimating Caloric Intake. J Acad Nutr Diet 116:1568-77