ECE and Pennington Partner to Combat Obesity
October 5, 2009
One of the most challenging aspects of dietary studies is the collection of accurate data on the food intake by participants, especially when self reported. 'I took just a bite' is not an accurate measure. Researchers in LSU's Electrical & Computer Engineering Department (ECE) are collaborating with scientists at Pennington Biomedical Center to address the issue of food intake measurement, supported by the National Institutes of Health.
The project "Validation of innovative technology to measure the energy intake of free-living humans" promises to provide an accurate estimate of people's food intake while they live in their natural environment. Estimates will be obtained by automatic analysis of images taken by the subjects before and after each meal.
Subjects participating in the experiment take pictures of their plates and email them via smartphones; the images are then analyzed automatically to determine the food types and the amounts eaten using computer vision techniques. ECE associate professor Bahadir K. Gunturk is responsible for the automatic image analysis component of the project. Dr. Corby Martin with the Pennington Biomedical Research Center is responsible for the medical analysis.
For more information, please contact:
Bahadir K. Gunturk, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Louisiana State University
225 Electrical Engineering Building
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Phone: 225-578-5621
FAX: 225-578-5200
Email Address: bahadir@ece.lsu.edu
Corby K. Martin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Health Psychology
Director, Ingestive Behavior Laboratory
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
6400 Perkins Rd.
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
Phone: 225-763-2585
FAX: 225-763-3045
Email Address: Corby.Martin@pbrc.edu
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Article by Tammy V. Abshire, College of Engineering, 225-578-5478, tvabshire@lsu.edu
