Can New Wristband 'Sense' What You're
Eating?...
A new activity tracker
claims to be able to analyze what you eat using a sensor on the wrist — no food
diaries needed — but experts are skeptical of the claim.
Activity trackers are
devices that measure a person's activity, such as steps, calories burned and
distance walked, and are part of the “quantified-self”
movement, or the use of technology to collect data about oneself.
Many activity trackers that have hit the market in recent years measure food
intake in indirect ways, such as by asking users to upload calorie information,
or even take pictures of their food.But the new device,
called AIRO, which launched today, is different
in that it has a wristband with a spectrometer, which is an instrument that
analyses light, according to the makers of the device.
The device shines LED lights at different wavelengths, "to
look into the bloodstream and detect metabolites as they are released while and
after you eat," the company, Airo Health, said in a statement. "This
allows AIRO to measure caloric intake and even the quality of meals consumed,
providing recommendations on ways to improve nutrition." [5 Crazy
Technologies That Are Revolutionizing Biotech]AIRO can distinguish
between different nutrients (like protein, carbohydrates and fat) because they
will interact with light differently, Airo Heath CEO Abhilash Jayakumar told Engadget.
"We might be able
to see a difference in waveform that would show you whether something is better
or worse for the body," Jayakumar was quoted as saying.
According to AllThingsD,
the company does not yet have a working prototype of the device, but that
hasn't stopped them from taking preorders (at $149 each). The company plans to
have a prototype ready by December, and it will ship devices in the fall of
next year.However, some were
skeptical about the device's claims.
While it is plausible
that a spectrometer could detect different nutrients in a blood sample, the
AIRO device would be limited in several ways, said Michelle MacDonald, a
clinical dietitian at National Jewish Health hospital in Denver.
For one, the device
would need to sense through the skin "into the various streams of blood
that happen to be flowing in the small vessels in your wrist," MacDonald
said.
"Most of the nutrients
in the foods you eat are absorbed by the gut, then sent to the liver first and
foremost through the portal vein for absorption and processing. What ends up in
your wrist is a distant remnant of what is absorbed from your meal,"
MacDonald said.
In addition, the
spectrometer would need to be relatively cheap in order to keep the device cost
affordable, which would limit its sensitivity, MacDonald said.
"AIRO provides a
highly questionable nutrient analysis at best," MacDonald said.
MacDonald said whatever
the device could detect "cannot be valued any better or more than making a
value judgment of the ingredients on the food label."
As of publication time,
Airo Health had not responded to requests for comment from LiveScience.
However, Jayakumar told Engadget that AIRO's calorie numbers might differ from
those of food package labels "because different people process foods
differently."
