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
.
Funding:
Papers about this project:
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A. Hoover, E. Muth and Y. Dong,
"Weight Control Device",
US Provisional Patent Application serial no. 61/144,203,
filed January 13, 2009.
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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.
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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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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.
People working on this project:
-
Dr. Adam Hoover,
Associate Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
-
Dr. Eric Muth,
Professor, Psychology Department
- Yujie Dong,
graduate student, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
- Jenna Scisco,
graduate student, Psychology Department
- James Salley,
graduate student, Psychology Department
- Mike Wilson,
graduate student, Psychology Department
- Sanjay Patil,
graduate student, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
- Kuang Yuan,
graduate student, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
- Ziqing Huang,
graduate student, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
- Phil Jasper,
undergraduate student, Psychology Department
Collaborators at other institutions:
-
Dr. Patrick O'Neil,
Director, Weight Loss Center at MUSC, and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at MUSC
-
Dr. Kevin Hall,
NIDDK, National Institutes of Health
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
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 January 2012
Bite Counter Project Page / Clemson / ahoover@clemson.edu
