CES 2024: AI powers weight-loss

A new device being demonstrated at the CES 2024 expo in Las Vegas this week uses artificial intelligence (AI) to predict weightloss by learning a user’s weight fluctuation patterns and predicting their “true” weight trend. 

That breaks the mould of most health and fitness monitoring gadgets that only recognise the existing graph of weight patterns.

Trials of Sinque, a behavioural analytics and monitoring solution for weight loss, show that combining AI-driven data for health professionals with stress-free user monitoring significantly lowers dropout rates, improves results, and reduces health professionals’ management time.

Sinque is being showcased by EW2Health (Easy Way to Health), a technology company developing “data-driven solutions for health professionals”, at the Netherlands pavilion at the Venetian Expo centre this week. It uses a behavioral analytics algorithm to learn a user’s weight fluctuation patterns. 

Health professionals are then able to use a Sinque dashboard to assess individual and group metrics to measure weight trends, and see who is on track, and who needs more attention. This, says EW2Health, eliminates blind spots between appointments and allows professionals to provide truly personalised healthcare in the form of tailored support based on data. Patients track their progress via a Sinque app.

“An individual’s weight naturally fluctuates up to 3kg per day — from hydration, medication, time of day, and dozens of other causes — which routinely leads people to draw the wrong conclusions from the scale,” says EW2Health’s CTO and founder Dr Renato Romani. “This is a main cause of the 80% attrition rate we see in weight loss programs. Conversely, Sinque users see their accurate weight trend, receive proactive support from their health professional, and are excited and empowered to stay on track.”

Sinque is one of many new nutrition and food devices, services and technologies showcased or launched at CES 2024 this week.

In the Digital Health Zone at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), a “food AI” company called Nuvilab is demonstrating a Nutrition Management Solution for inpatients at hospitals. It uses an AI Food Scanner to scan patient’s meal tray and analyse individual food intake. Nuvilab claims an average accuracy of 95%, more than double the accuracy rate when food intake is recorded manually.

Nuvilab says the system was first tested at Alexandra Hospital in Singapore, where it underwent a seven-week pilot phase. In South Korea, the company’s ‘Yum-yum Kids’ service for improving dietary habits and managing child nutrition has been introduced to about 200 kindergartens and daycare centres.

At CES this week, Nuvilab is also announcing a healthcare service for patients with type 2 diabetes, to aid nutrition management through dietary habit regulation, using Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) and generative AI.

Dae-hoon Kim, CEO of Nuvilab, says: “The key to healthcare lies in managing dietary habits. We plan to continuously improve and strengthen our healthcare services to assist in personalised dietary management with our expertise in food data.”

* CES, formerly the Consumer Electronics Show, is one of the most influential tech events in the world, serving as the launchpad for several thousand new products every January in Las Vegas. It is owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), and features every aspect of the tech sector.