PROCESSES AND SYSTEMS BASED ON METABOLIC CONVERSION EFFICIENCY

• US 20100055271A1
• Filed: 08/27/2009
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Weight Watchers International Incorporated (Artal Group SA)
• Original Assignee: Weight Watchers International Incorporated (Artal Group SA)
• Inventors: Jacobsohn, Christine, Miller-Kovach, Karen, Rost, Stephanie Lyn, Frye, Wanema, Peetz, Julia, Kinirons, Maria, Gerwig, Ute, Halkuff, Dawn
• Application Number:
  US12/549,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20100055271A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 426/383
• CPC Class Codes: A23L 33/30 Dietetic or nutritional methods, e.g. for losing weight A23L33/10 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A23V 2002/00 Food compositions, function of food ingredients or processes for food or foodstuffs
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/02 Food
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/0092 Nutrition
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/02 with visual presentation of the material to be studied, e.g. using film strip
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

A process for controlling body weight of a consumer obtains food energy data of candidate food servings to be ingested based on a human beings metabolic efficiency in utilizing first and second nutrients of the candidate food servings and ingesting the food servings such that a sum of the food energy data thereof bears a predetermined relationship to predetermined food energy benchmark data of the consumer for a given period. Related processes for selecting and purchasing food, for producing food energy data and for producing a food product are provided. Related processes and systems for supplying food energy data to a requester and supplying meal plan data to a consumer are also provided.

Claims

1. A process for controlling body weight of a consumer, comprising, for each of a plurality of candidate food servings, obtaining respective food energy data representing an energy content of each of the candidate food servings based on a human being'"'"'s metabolic efficiency in utilizing first and second nutrients therein as energy;

and ingesting food servings from the plurality of candidate food servings such that a sum of respective food energy data of the selected food servings bears a predetermined relationship to predetermined food energy benchmark data of the consumer for a given period.

2. The process of claim 1, comprising obtaining meal plan data identifying candidate food servings to be ingested by the consumer over the given period based on the respective food energy data and the food energy benchmark data, wherein the candidate food servings are ingested by the consumer in accordance with the meal plan data.

3. The process of claim 1, comprising, for each of the candidate food servings, obtaining respective food energy data based on protein energy data representing its protein energy content, carbohydrate energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content, and fat energy data representing its fat energy content, by adjusting at least one of the protein energy data, the carbohydrate energy data, and the fat energy data to reflect its metabolic conversion efficiency relative to at least one other thereof, and summing the protein energy data, the carbohydrate energy data and the fat energy data as adjusted.

4. The process of claim 1, comprising, for each of the candidate food servings, obtaining total food energy data representing its total energy content, protein energy content representing its protein energy content and dietary fiber energy data representing its dietary fiber energy content, by separating data representing its protein energy content and dietary energy content from the total food energy data to produce reduced energy content data, adjusting the protein energy data and the dietary fiber energy data to reflect its metabolic conversion efficiency relative to the other thereof, and summing the reduced energy data, the protein energy data, and the dietary fiber energy data as adjusted.

5. The process of claim 1, wherein obtaining respective food energy data comprises receiving data representing the first and second nutrients in a data processing system and processing the received data using the data processing system to produce the respective food energy data.

6. The process of claim 5, wherein receiving data in the data processing system comprises receiving data representing the first and second nutrients via a network, and further comprising communicating the respective food energy data from the data processing system via the network.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein obtaining respective food energy data comprises receiving identification data for a respective one of the candidate food servings in a data processing system;

in the data processing system, obtaining data representing the first and second nutrients for the respective one of the candidate food servings based on the identification data; and

processing the data representing the first and second nutrients in the data processing system to produce the respective food energy data for the respective one of the candidate food servings.

8. The process of claim 1, wherein obtaining respective food energy data comprises receiving identification data for a respective one of the candidate food servings in a data processing system;

and accessing the respective food energy data for the respective one of the candidate food servings from storage of the data processing system using the food identification data.

9. A process for selecting and purchasing food, comprising, using at least one of food identification data and food serving nutrient data of a food offered for sale, obtaining food energy data representing an energy content thereof based on a human being'"'"'s metabolic efficiency in utilizing first and second nutrients within the food offered for sale as energy;

selecting the food offered for sale based on its food energy data; and

purchasing the selected food offered for sale.

10. The process of claim 9, wherein obtaining food energy data comprises obtaining respective food energy data of the food offered for sale based on protein energy data representing its protein energy content, carbohydrate energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content, and fat energy data representing its fat energy content, by adjusting at least one of the protein energy data, the carbohydrate energy data, and the fat energy data to reflect its metabolic conversion efficiency relative to at least one other thereof, and summing the protein energy data, the carbohydrate energy data and the fat energy data as adjusted.

11. The process of claim 9, wherein obtaining food energy data comprises obtaining total food energy data representing the total energy content of the food offered for sale, protein energy content representing its protein energy content and dietary fiber energy data representing its dietary fiber energy content, by separating data representing its protein energy content and dietary energy content from the total food energy data to produce reduced energy content data, adjusting the protein energy data and the dietary fiber energy data to reflect its metabolic conversion efficiency relative to the other thereof, and summing the reduced energy data, the protein energy data, and the dietary fiber energy data as adjusted.

12. The process of claim 9, wherein obtaining food energy data comprises receiving data representing the first and second nutrients in a data processing system and processing the received data using the data processing system to produce the respective food energy data.

13. The process of claim 12, wherein receiving data in the data processing system comprises receiving data representing the first and second nutrients via a network, and further comprising communicating the respective food energy data from the data processing system via the network.

14. A process for producing food energy data for a selected food, comprising, in a data processing system, receiving at least one of food identification data and food nutrient data of a selected food;

in the data processing system, obtaining food energy data for the selected food based on the at least one of food identification data and food nutrient data thereof, and a human being'"'"'s metabolic efficiency in utilizing first and second nutrients in the selected food as energy.

15. The process of claim 14, comprising obtaining the food energy data for the selected food based on protein energy data representing its protein energy content, carbohydrate energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content, and fat energy data representing its fat energy content, by adjusting at least one of the protein energy data, the carbohydrate energy data, and the fat energy data to reflect its metabolic conversion efficiency relative to at least one other thereof, and summing the protein energy data, the carbohydrate energy data and the fat energy data as adjusted.

16. The process of claim 14, comprising obtaining the food energy data for the selected food by obtaining total food energy data representing its total energy content, protein energy content representing its protein energy content and dietary fiber energy data representing its dietary fiber energy content, separating data representing its protein energy content and dietary energy content from the total food energy data to produce reduced energy content data, adjusting the protein energy data and the dietary fiber energy data to reflect its metabolic conversion efficiency relative to the other thereof, and summing the reduced energy data, the protein energy data, and the dietary fiber energy data as adjusted.

17. The process of claim 14, comprising receiving data representing the first and second nutrients in the data processing system and processing the received data using the data processing system to produce the food energy data for the selected food.

18. The process of claim 14, comprising receiving the food identification data in the data processing system, using the food identification data to access the food nutrient data and processing the food nutrient data in the data processing system to produce the food energy data for the selected food.

19. The process of claim 14, comprising receiving the food identification data in the data processing system and using the food identification data to access the food energy data for the selected food.

20. The process of claim 14, comprising storing the food energy data in storage.

21. The process of claim 20, comprising storing the food energy data in a database of existing food energy data to update it.

22. A process for providing data to a data requester, comprising, receiving request data in a data processing system representing a request for food energy data of a predetermined food serving;

in response to the request, obtaining food energy data for the predetermined food serving based on a human being'"'"'s metabolic efficiency in utilizing first and second nutrients therein as energy; and

at least one of (a) communicating the food energy data to a device for presentation to the data requester, and (b) presenting the food energy data to the data requester via a presentation device of the data processing system.

23. The process of claim 22, comprising obtaining the food energy data for the predetermined food serving based on protein energy data representing its protein energy content, carbohydrate energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content, and fat energy data representing its fat energy content, by adjusting at least one of the protein energy data, the carbohydrate energy data, and the fat energy data to reflect its metabolic conversion efficiency relative to at least one other thereof, and summing the protein energy data, the carbohydrate energy data and the fat energy data as adjusted.

24. The process of claim 22, comprising obtaining the food energy data for the predetermined food serving by obtaining total food energy data representing its total energy content, protein energy content representing its protein energy content and dietary fiber energy data representing its dietary fiber energy content, separating data representing its protein energy content and dietary energy content from the total food energy data to produce reduced energy content data, adjusting the protein energy data and the dietary fiber energy data to reflect its metabolic conversion efficiency relative to the other thereof, and summing the reduced energy data, the protein energy data, and the dietary fiber energy data as adjusted.

25. The process of claim 22, comprising receiving request data in the data processing system representing first and second nutrients of the predetermined food serving and processing the received data using the data processing system to produce the food energy data for the predetermined food serving based on a human being'"'"'s metabolic efficiency in utilizing first and second nutrients therein as energy.

26. The process of claim 22, comprising receiving request data in the data processing system comprising food identification data for the predetermined food serving, using the food identification data to access data representing first and second nutrients of the predetermined food serving and processing the accessed data using the data processing system to produce the food energy data for the predetermined food serving based on a human being'"'"'s metabolic efficiency in utilizing first and second nutrients therein as energy.

27. The process of claim 22, comprising receiving request data in the data processing system comprising food identification data for the predetermined food serving, and using the food identification data to access the food energy data for the predetermined food serving.

28. A system for providing data to a data requester, comprising, an input operative to receive request data representing a request for food energy data of a predetermined food serving;

a processor coupled with the input to receive the request data and configured to obtain food energy data based on a human being'"'"'s metabolic efficiency in utilizing first and second nutrients in the predetermined food serving as energy; and

at least one of (a) communications coupled with the processor to receive the food energy data therefrom and to communicate the food energy data to a device for presentation to the data requester, and (b) a presentation device coupled with the processor to receive the food energy data and operative to present the food energy data to the data requester.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the request data represents the first and second nutrients and the processor is operative to process the request data to obtain the food energy data.

30. The system of claim 28, further comprising storage coupled with the processor, wherein the request data comprises identification data identifying the predetermined food serving and the processor is configured to access data from the storage representing the first and second nutrients based on the identification data and to process the accessed data to obtain the food energy data.

31. The system of claim 28, comprising storage coupled with the processor, wherein the request data comprises identification data identifying the predetermined food serving and the processor is configured to access the food energy data from the storage based on the identification data.

32. A process for providing meal plan data to a consumer, comprising, receiving request data in a data processing system representing a request for a meal plan from a consumer;

in response to the request obtaining meal plan data in the data processing system representing a plurality of predetermined food servings to be consumed by the consumer during a predetermined period based on food energy data for each of a plurality of predetermined food servings based on a human being'"'"'s metabolic efficiency in utilizing first and second nutrients in the predetermined food serving as energy; and

at least one of (a) communicating the meal plan data from the data processing system to a device for presentation to the data requester, and (b) presenting the meal plan data to the data requester via a presentation device of the data processing system.

33. The process of claim 32, comprising obtaining the food energy data in the data processing system and producing the meal plan data in the data processing system based on the food energy data

34. The process of claim 32, wherein obtaining food energy data comprises, for each of the plurality of predetermined food servings, processing data representing first and second nutrients thereof to produce the food energy data.

35. The process of claim 32, wherein obtaining food energy data comprises, for each of the plurality of predetermined food servings, accessing data from storage representing the food energy data thereof.

36. A system for providing meal plan data to a consumer, comprising, an input operative to receive request data representing a request for a meal plan from the consumer;

a processor coupled with the input to receive the request data and configured to obtain meal plan data representing a plurality of predetermined food servings to be consumed by the consumer during a predetermined period based on food energy data for each of a plurality of predetermined food servings based on a human being'"'"'s metabolic efficiency in utilizing first and second nutrients in the predetermined food serving as energy; and

at least one of (a) communications coupled with the processor to receive the meal plan data therefrom and to communicate the meal plan data to a device for presentation to the consumer, and (b) a presentation device coupled with the processor to receive the meal plan data and operative to present the meal plan data to the consumer.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the processor is configured to obtain the food energy data and to produce the meal plan data based on the food energy data.

38. The system of claim 36, wherein the processor is configured to obtain food energy data for each of the plurality of predetermined food servings by processing data representing first and second nutrients thereof to produce the food energy data

39. The system of claim 36, comprising storage coupled with the processor, and wherein the processor is configured to obtain food energy data for each of the plurality of predetermined food servings by accessing the food energy data thereof from the storage.

40. A process for producing a food product having food energy data associated therewith, comprising, obtaining a food product, supplying at least one of food identification data and food nutrient data of the food product;

obtaining food energy data for the food product based on the at least one of food identification data and food nutrient data of the food product, and a human being'"'"'s metabolic efficiency in utilizing first and second nutrients in the food product as energy; and

associating the food energy data with the food product.

41. The process of claim 40, wherein obtaining the food product comprises producing the food product.

42. The process of claim 40, wherein the food energy data is associated with the food product by including the food energy data on a substrate associated with the food product.

43. The process of claim 42, wherein the substrate comprises a label accompanying the food product.

44. The process of claim 42, wherein the substrate comprises packaging of the food product.