SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR USER-SPECIFIC MODULATION OF NUTRIENT INTAKE

• US 20130216982A1
• Filed: 02/15/2013
• Published: 08/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Good Measures LLC
• Original Assignee: Good Measures LLC
• Inventors: Bennett, George B., Ries, Daniel R., Shaheen, Stefany A., Chen, Chesley M., Stone, Emily P., Mathews, Robert V.
• Granted Patent: US 9,011,153 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/127
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4866 Evaluating metabolism A61B5/083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/0092 Nutrition
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets

Abstract

This disclosure relates generally to nutritional analysis and recommendations, including systems and methods that provide personalized approaches for analyzing nutrient intake levels and for generating recommendations that are responsive to a user'"'"'s current nutritional intake and the user'"'"'s nutrition-related goals. The systems and methods also provide personalized analysis and recommendation for other areas or activities, including applications to exercise adherence, sleep adherence, mediation adherence, and general wellness assessment. Each of these areas or activities can be assessed alone or in combination with one or more other areas or activities.

Claims

1. A method for assessing a person'"'"'s diet, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computer system including a communications port and at least one computer processor in communication with at least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing at least one electronic database, data representative of an amount of each of three or more nutrients consumed by the person;

receiving from the at least one electronic database a target level for each of the three or more nutrients;

assigning by the computer system a plurality of numeric weights to the three or more nutrients such that each of the nutrients is assigned a numeric weight determined based on a comparison between the amount of the respective nutrient and the target level of the respective nutrient; and

providing via the communications port an assessment of the person'"'"'s diet based on the amounts of the three or more nutrients, the target levels of the three or more nutrients, and the plurality of numeric weights.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving by the computer system a user-selected dietary program selected from a plurality of dietary programs, and wherein the target level for each of the three or more nutrients is determined based on the user-selected dietary program.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein assigning the plurality of numeric weights comprises assigning the numeric weight for each of the nutrients from a nutrient-specific set of numeric weights determined based on one or more goals associated with the person.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the three or more nutrients include a first nutrient and a second nutrient, and wherein providing an assessment of the person'"'"'s diet comprises:

providing a first indicator of an alignment between the amount of the first nutrient and the target level of the first nutrient;

providing a second indicator of an alignment between the amount of the second nutrient and the target level of the second nutrient; and

providing a nutritional index representative of an aggregate alignment between the user-selected dietary program and the person'"'"'s diet based on the respective alignments of the first and second nutrients.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising providing via the communications port a recommendation for the person to consume a recommended food selected from one or more foods based on a predicted change in the nutritional index.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the recommended food is selected to change the first indicator and to simultaneously reduce a negative impact on the alignment of the second nutrient.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein providing the nutritional index comprises calculating, for each of the three or more nutrients, a deviation for the nutrient based on the consumed amount of the nutrient and the target level of the respective nutrient.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the recommended food is selected to simultaneously reduce the deviation for each of at least two of the three or more nutrients.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising selecting the recommended food based on a desired consumption distribution of the three or more nutrients over a predetermined time period.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the recommended food is selected from one or more foods previously consumed by the person.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein providing the recommendation comprises providing a recommended amount of the recommended food and a recommended calendar date for the person to consume the recommended food, the recommended amount being different from a previously consumed amount of the recommended food.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the recommended food is selected from one or more foods not previously consumed by the person.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the target level of at least one of the three or more nutrients based at least in part on an actual or estimated amount of exercise performed by the person during a predetermined time period.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one electronic database is configured to store a set of nutrient-specific weights for each of the three or more nutrients, each nutrient-specific weight corresponding to a different time period for the nutrient, the method further comprising selecting the plurality of numeric weights from the nutrient-specific weights based on a first predetermined time period for which the assessment is provided.

15. A system for aligning a person'"'"'s diet with specific dietary goals, the system comprising:

a processing system including one or more computer processors, at least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing one or more electronic databases, and one or more communications port, the processing system configured to;

receive data representative of one or more meals consumed by the person, each meal comprising a specified portion of one or more foods;

determine a target nutritional profile associated with the person, the target nutritional profile including target levels for first and second nutrients;

generate a meal recommendation based on a selected meal from the one or more meals, the meal recommendation including a modified portion size for at least one of the one or more foods such that the meal recommendation simultaneously improves an alignment between nutrient levels of the first and second nutrients in the selected meal and the target nutritional profile; and

output via at least one of the one or more communications ports data representative of the meal recommendation.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processing system is further configured to receive, from a user device or from the one or more electronic databases, data representative of a user-selected dietary program selected from a plurality of dietary programs.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the processing system is configured to generate the meal recommendation by selecting, for each of the one or more meals, a recommended number of servings of each of the one or more foods in the meal, the recommended number of servings selected as the modified portion size to reduce a deviation between the nutrient levels of the selected meal and the target nutritional profile.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the modified portion size is based on a desired distribution of the first and second nutrients over a predetermined period of time or within the selected meal.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the desired distribution comprises a per-meal constraint for each of a plurality of nutrients including the first and second nutrients.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the data representative of one or more meals comprises data representative of a plurality of meals consumed over a predetermined period of time, each meal being associated with a calendar date.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the processing system is further configured to output data representative of an index representative of an alignment between the nutrient levels of the meal recommendation and the target nutritional profile.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the processing system is further configured to generate the index by applying to a weighted function a specific weight for each of the first and second nutrients, the specific weight being based on a comparison between an amount of each nutrient in the selected meal and the target level of the respective nutrient.

23. A system for aligning a person'"'"'s diet with specific dietary goals, comprising:

a first data port configured to receive first input data representative of a dietary program for the person and second input data representative of one or more foods consumed by the person;

a second data port configured to communicate with a processing system, the processing system comprising;

a server, one or more electronic databases configured to store data representative of target levels of first and second nutrients in each of one or more dietary programs, and data representative of amounts of the first and second nutrients in each of a plurality of foods; and

a processor, in communication with the first and second data ports, configured to;

output the first and second input data to the processing system over a communication network,

receive, from the processing system, an index representative of an alignment between the person'"'"'s diet and a dietary program identified by the server from the one or more dietary programs using the first input data, wherein the index is based on the amounts of the first and second nutrients and the target levels of the first and second nutrients in the dietary program,

receive, from the server, a recommendation for a food to be consumed based on the index, and

output the index and the recommendation to the user interface device via the first data port.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the first input data includes a user-specific parameter selected from the group consisting of a nutritional goal, a weight goal, an exercise goal, and a medical condition, and wherein the dietary program is identified based on the user-specific parameter.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the one or more databases are configured to store information indicative of meals previously consumed by the person, each meal comprising a combination of foods, and wherein the processing system is configured to determine the recommendation by selecting a meal from the meals previously consumed by the person.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the processor is further configured to provide data representative of a graphical nutrient profile for the person, the graphical nutrient profile comprising a graphical indicator for each of a plurality of nutrients in the selected dietary program, each graphical indicator indicating whether the person'"'"'s consumption of the nutrient is in deficit or excess of the target levels.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the index is representative of the alignment between the person'"'"'s diet and the dietary program over a predefined time period between 3 days to 10 days.

28. The system of claim 23, wherein the processor, the first data port, and the second data port are housed in a user interface device.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the user interface device comprises a GPS-enabled mobile device, and wherein the first data port is configured to receive a third input data representative of one or more locations detected using the GPS over a predefined period of time.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the first data port is configured to receive the second input data in response to a prompt provided to the user to identify one or more foods consumed at the one or more locations.