Malnutrition in patients leads to health problems and high costs. Hospitals are tackling the problem with AI-powered surveillance cameras and specially formulated food.
In Switzerland, between 20% and 40% of patients are already malnourished when they enter hospital, and their nutritional status often worsens during their stay. This has a significant effect on the healing process and length of stay, and leads to substantial additional costs. A study by the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office concluded that the average length of stay for malnourished patients is 4.9 days longer than for normally nourished patients, resulting in additional costs of over CHF 500 million annually for the Swiss healthcare system.
3D camera calculates food intake
Nursing homes and hospitals typically keep food records when malnutrition is suspected, but these are often inaccurate and imprecise. This is where the start-up ALPINA+SANA, founded by graduates of the University of St. Gallen and ETH Zurich, comes in. A specially developed AI-powered tracker determines within a fraction of a second whether the patient has eaten enough, enabling early detection of malnutrition. The tracker is a simple high-tech subtraction: a 3D camera records the patient’s meal as it leaves the kitchen, uses laser beams to calculate the volume and 30,000 reference images to identify the type of food and determine the nutritional value. After the meal, the tray and plate are scanned by an identical camera, and the difference in volume is used to calculate the patient’s food intake.
Using protein ice cream to prevent malnutrition
If the tracker detects that a patient has not eaten enough, the shortfall can be addressed with targeted nutritional interventions. The start-up is also developing specialised nutritional supplements alongside the tracker. These are designed to address deficiencies in protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. The unique feature of these fully balanced products is that they contain all the micro- and macronutrients needed to substitute a normal diet. The first finished product, a protein ice cream, is already being used in more than 20 hospitals, according to its creators. Other forms, such as liquid meals, soups and baked goods, will be introduced in the future.
Originally published at: Swisstech
Source: zedreviews.com
