Validity of the Bite Counter device in a controlled laboratory setting

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Nutritional Science
• Wearable Technology

Background:

• Body-borne sensors offer an alternative to self-report for assessing eating behaviors.
• The Bite Counter is a novel wrist-worn device designed to quantify daily bite counts using accelerometer data.
• It detects wrist-to-mouth movements, termed wrist rolls, to infer bite instances.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the validity of the Bite Counter device in accurately measuring bites.
• To assess its performance across a variety of foods and beverages consumed with different utensils.

Main Methods:

• Fifteen adults participated, wearing the Bite Counter on their dominant wrist.
• Participants consumed a meal with diverse food items (meat, soup, pizza, etc.) and beverages.
• A researcher conducted direct observation to count actual bites for comparison.

Main Results:

• The Bite Counter achieved an overall accuracy of 81.2% in detecting bites.
• Accuracy varied significantly by food type: Meat (127%), side items (82.6%), soup (60.2%), pizza (87.3%), soda (81.7%), and smoothie (57.7%).
• The device showed both overestimation and underestimation depending on the food and utensil used.

Conclusions:

• The Bite Counter demonstrates potential for monitoring hand-to-mouth movements during eating.
• Current limitations include variable accuracy and a tendency to underestimate bites overall.
• Further research is recommended to enhance the device's sensitivity and specificity for reliable eating behavior assessment.