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Using Tech to Fight the Battle of the Bulge, the War of the Waistline

by JP Mangalindan on January 8, 2010 at 08:10 AM


Although devices like Nike+ already exist, a new generation of "fat tech" aims to do more -- not only tracking how many minutes you work out or how much food you consume, but your location, too. Sneaking a Big Mac when you should be in the gym? Scientists will know. Getting too lazy for your own good? You'll get a text message saying as much.

In a federally funded pilot project by the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana, a test subject uses a BlackBerry Curve to take photos of their meals and leftovers, and wears a quarter-sized device on their shoe to track how many steps they take. The data is then transmitted to counselors, who examine it and offer customized advice to the person.

Scientists are currently studying wearable wireless sensors that will one day, they hope, do all the "heavy-lifting" for dieters and provide more accurate readings of their progress. The tech relies on accelerometers for tracking duration and intensity of workouts and on Bluetooth camera phones for snapping photos.

While these devices will most likely go a long way in helping people with weight issues, they do raise concerns about privacy. Do we really want virtual strangers to know where we are at any given moment, or to know, to some extent anyway, what we are and aren't doing? "If I were a subject, I'd be concerned about the level of detail that's being captured about my behavior from moment to moment," William McCarthy, professor of public health at the University of California Los Angeles, told the AP.

It's not a question of whether or not these products and their developers have good intentions. Clearly, they do. It's more to do with whether or not people are willing to sacrifice their privacy for a slimmer figure. [From: AP/The Huffington Post]

Tags: blackberry curve, BlackberryCurve, fat, health, pennington biomedical research center, PenningtonBiomedicalResearchCenter, top, weight loss, WeightLoss

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