Innovative ear-mounted cameras: Revolutionising dietary monitoring and advice
A group of scientists are working on an unprecedented approach to dietary tracking, drawing inspiration from the concept of constant surveillance. The researchers are creating minute cameras that can be attached to the ear, recording every food item consumed by the wearer.
The camera’s footage will be processed by an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can identify both the type of food and portion sizes. The ultimate objective is to provide customised advice on dietary habits, bridging the gap in dietary research that has often relied on participants’ unreliable self-reporting via surveys or diaries. The common issues include forgetfulness in recording meals, inaccuracies in estimating portion sizes, and intentional omissions due to feelings of guilt, particularly with regard to treats and alcohol.
The Health Survey of England 2021 stated that approximately 25.9% of adults had obesity, with an additional 37.9% classified as having overweight. Obesity is linked to a variety of health issues, including depression, infertility, hypertension, cancer, dementia, heart failure, and type 2 diabetes. The latter condition significantly raises the risk of blindness, peripheral neuropathy, and limb amputation.
Predictions for 2035 suggest that the NHS will likely spend more on treating diet-related type 2 diabetes than on all types of cancer. However, despite nearly 700 policy interventions implemented between 1996 and 2020 to curb national weight gain, as cited by former government food tsar Henry Dimbleby, obesity rates continue to rise.
According to Professor Gary Frost, the Head of Nutrition Research at Imperial College London, “There is a glaring gap in our understanding of people’s daily dietary habits. The current tools for dietary tracking are inaccurate, making it challenging to discern the connection between diet and disease.”
The innovative project, named CoDiet, also plans to evaluate urine and blood samples to study the correlations between dietary habits, bodily changes, and the onset of diseases such as type 2 diabetes. A primary goal is to develop a tool using AI that can dispense diet advice specific to an individual’s needs.
“We anticipate the ability to formulate new individual-focused policies to counteract common diseases related to lifestyle,” Frost said.
Scheduled to commence in September (of 2023), the project will initially use the ear-mounted cameras to record the dietary practices of 50 British volunteers and an additional 150 participants from Cork in the Republic of Ireland, Spain, and Greece.
