Bite Counter Project
Obesity is a
growing problem.
In this project, we are investigating a new method
to measure eating intake.
The Bite Counter device is worn like a watch and tracks wrist motion
during eating.
By detecting a characteristic pattern, it can identify when a bite
of food has been taken.
It can monitor intake in real-time and provide feedback to the wearer.
The feedback could tell the user to slow down, or
tell the user to stop eating after a target intake had been reached,
or help the user track long-term eating patterns.
The bite counter is a
tool
to help people track their intake.
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| Bite Counter device worn on the wrist like a watch |
Click
here to read more |
Pattern recognition
When a person takes a bite of food, the wrist of the person rolls.
Generally, fingers are aimed downwards to pick something up, and
sideways to place it into the mouth.
This pattern holds regardless of the type of food or utensil.
Bites as a measure
Isn't a bite of carrots different from a bite of candy?
Of course.
But nobody gains or loses weight in a single bite, or even a
single meal. A common guideline is to lose a pound of weight per
week. Our hypothesis is that bite count could serve as a surrogate
for calorie count over a period of time. By automating the
counting process, and enabling it anywhere, any time, the bite
counter can empower individuals to better monitor intake.
As with calories, it is possible to count bites for a single meal;
but with either measure reduction goals are best evaluated over
at least a day.
Bite goals, like calorie goals, should be custom set to the individual.
This would be based not only upon the size, gender, age, and activity
level of the person, but also based upon the foods typically eaten.
For example, a vegetarian may have a higher bite count per day than
someone who regularly eats more energy-dense foods.
In addition, people tend to eat the same foods week to week.
Therefore, setting bite reduction goals over a period of time
has the same effect as setting calorie reduction goals.
This graph shows some preliminary data that relates bite count
(multiplied by 25) to calories. Each data point is for one meal,
a total of 54 meals are graphed. Meals were eaten by 4 different
people under a variety of conditions, including at homes, restaurants
and social events.
Video
How to use a Bite Counter to measure eating intake for a meal
.
A laboratory demo of
a few bites, showing a signal-to-bite correlation.
Public relations video
for NIH funded study.
Thanks to Aramark, SC Launch and CURF for supporting this study.
Funding:
Papers about this project:
-
Y. Dong, A. Hoover, J. Scisco and E. Muth,
"A New Method for Measuring Meal Intake in Humans via
Automated Wrist Motion Tracking",
in Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback,
vol 37, no 3, 2012, pp 205-215.
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Y. Dong,
"Tracking Wrist Motion to Detect and Measure the Eating
Consumption of Free-Living Humans'',
PhD dissertation, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department,
Clemson University, May 2012.
-
J. Scisco,
"Sources of Variance in Bite Count",
PhD dissertation, Psychology Department,
Clemson University, May 2012.
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J. Scisco, E. Muth, Y. Dong, A. Hoover,
"Slowing bite-rate reduces caloric consumption; an application of
the bite counter device", in Journal of the American Dietetic
Assocation, vol. 111, 2011, pp. 1231-1235.
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Y. Dong, A. Hoover, J. Scisco and E. Muth,
"Detecting Eating Using a Wrist Mounted Device During
Normal Daily Activities",
in the proc. of WorldComp, 2011.
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A. Hoover, E. Muth and Y. Dong,
"Weight Control Device Using Bites Detection",
US Patent no 8310368, filed January 2009, granted November 2012.
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Y. Dong, A. Hoover and E. Muth,
"A Device for Detecting and Counting Bites of Food
Taken by a Person During Eating",
in the proc. of IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics
and Biomedicine, 2009.
People working on this project:
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Dr. Adam Hoover,
Associate Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
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Dr. Eric Muth,
Professor, Psychology Department
- James Salley,
graduate student, Psychology Department
- Mike Wilson,
graduate student, Psychology Department
- Ziqing Huang,
graduate student, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
- Phil Jasper,
graduate student, Psychology Department
- Soheila Eskandari,
graduate student, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
- Hari Krishnan,
graduate student, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
- Ryan Mattfeld,
graduate student, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
- Mike Wooten,
undergraduate student, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
- Raul Ramos,
graduate student, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
- Amelia Kinsella,
graduate student, Psychology Department
- Surya Sharma,
graduate student, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
Group photo, September 2012:
Collaborators at Clemson:
Collaborators at other institutions:
-
Dr. Patrick O'Neil,
Director, Weight Loss Center at MUSC, and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at MUSC
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Dr. Kevin Hall,
NIDDK, National Institutes of Health
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Dr. Kathleen Melanson,
Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Rhode Island
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Prof. Dr. Paul Enck,
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Tübingen
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Dr. Brie Turner-McGrievy,
Department of Health Promotion, Education and Behavior,
University of South Carolina
Former students who worked on project:
- Meredith Drennan, M.S. in Computer Engineering, now at Lincoln Labs
- Samantha Fieni, B.S. in Computer Engineering, now at Harris Corp
- Yujie Dong, Ph.D. in Electrical & Computer Engineering, now at KLA-Tencor
- Jenna Scisco, Ph.D. in Psychology, now at US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine
Devices
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| Version 1 (2007). Tethered sensor. |
Version 2 (2008). Wireless sensor. |
Version 3 (2010). Self-contained unit, custom case. |
Version 4 (2011). Manufactured unit. |
Over the years our device has matured from a sensor wired to a desktop
computer sitting next to the eater, to a fully self-contained device.
Units like the one shown as version 4 are being manufactured at
Bite Technologies.
Last updated October 2012
Bite Counter Project Page / Clemson / ahoover@clemson.edu
