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Meet Welt, The Smart Belt That Tells You If You’re Eating Too Much
Section titled “Meet Welt, The Smart Belt That Tells You If You’re Eating Too Much”Contributor.
Eustacia Huen is a Hong Kong-based writer who covers food and luxury.
This article is more than8years old.
Typically, it doesn’t take more than the tension of the pants to alert you when you’ve overeaten. But now, there’s a smart belt that provides unequivocal proof. (Woo…hoo.)
Worn like a regular belt, this smart device comes with an accelerometer, and sensor markers in the strap and buckle that track your activity level (steps taken and sitting time), plus waist circumference.]]
(Photo credit: WELT corp.)
blue-tooth technology, the data can be synchronized to an app that consolidates and processes all the information. Based on each user’s gender, age, height and weight, along with waist size, activity log and overeating data, the app will rate your overall health score in different colors (Blue: Best, Orange: Good, Red: Poor). What’s more, it will offer helpful tips and a personalized health goal, according to Sean Kang (M.D. and M.P.H.)—CEO of WELT Corporation.
(Photo credit: WELT corp.)
Given how many experts vouch for tracking waist sizes over hopping on the scale, the WELT sounds like a solid idea. But is this gauge of health completely accurate?
Apparently not. You could well have a bigger stomach after drinking “a big glass of calorie-free water, not just after you’ve had too many fries,” said Scott Kahan, Director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness, to the Washington Post.
Yet, with “an algorithm based on digestion time to tell the difference between when you’ve chowed down versus just drank a lot of water,” Kang suggested to the Washington Post that this issue could perhaps be dismissed.
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Women’s collection (Photo credit: WELT corp.)
In such case, I wonder: How does this algorithm work when it comes to identifying pre-menstrual bloating? Is there an extra component that helps distinguishing different types of bloat from overeating or will this depend solely on the users’ inherent knowledge?
To understand this, Kang believes one should know how WELT really works: Once the user puts WELT on, the belt would identify his or her ‘usual’ size after a measurement has lasted for at least three hours. With that information, WELT and its algorithm will count any changes of waist size.
(Photo credit: WELT corp.)
“Since PMS bloating does not occur instantly or over a short period of time, it’s not something that the WELT really recognizes,” he said.
However, “Abdominal fat is a product of excess calorie intake. And since your waist can expand and contract over a duration as short as half an hour on calorie intake, WELT could effectively help you keep track of these rapid variations to monitor patterns of overeating,” he added.
Ever since the WELT’s prototype was first showcased at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2016, the product has gone through many changes. Aside from spinning off from its collaboration with Samsung to launching its own company in July 2016, the folks at WELT Corporation have spent months conducting clinical research on metabolic syndrome with Severance hospital in Seoul, stabilizing the hardware and software plus upgrading the design.
By February, the team will be ready to launch and ship the final product starting at $149 per belt.
There are currently 11 collections available exclusively to Kickstarter backers.(Photo credit: WELT corp.)
Granted, this isn’t the first item capable of tracking health information, but what makes it so compelling is how “it’s way more targeted and user-based,” said Ken Roh, Co-founder of the WELT.
No doubt, this smart belt will appeal to many health-oriented individuals. But as a discerning consumer, the WELT certainly raises more questions to me than it really answers.
For one, the failure of my health and fitness plans is never a result of lack of information, so I question how a product like this can turn knowledge into useful action.
Mitesh Patel, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Health Care Management at the Perelman School of Medicine and The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, believes the key lies in combining these technologies with effective behavior-change strategies such as financial incentives—maybe from a workplace wellness program—or social incentives like competing or collaborating toward a goal with a family member or friend.
(Photo credit: WELT corp.)
“It would also be helpful,” he noted, “if designers of these technologies decrease barriers to sustained use such as less frequent charging and being waterproof.”
While creating behavior-change is easier said than done, Patel said, “We need more evidence on how to best design behavior-change strategies around these technologies.”
Which is why, his research group has launched more than ten clinical trials in just the past three years, testing the use of different incentives in motivating behavior-change among individuals that are high-risk for chronic diseases.
“So far, after completing several clinical trials, we have found that the devices are often ineffective by themselves. But when combined with incentives using insights from behavioral economics, we can achieve significant changes in daily behaviors,” added Patel.
(Photo credit: WELT corp.)
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[!translator-card-callout]+ By Eustacia Huen,
Contributor.
Eustacia Huen is a Hong Kong-based writer who covers food and luxury.
This article is more than8years old.
Typically, it doesn’t take more than the tension of the pants to alert you when you’ve overeaten. But now, there’s a smart belt that provides unequivocal proof. (Woo…hoo.)
Worn like a regular belt, this smart device comes with an accelerometer, and sensor markers in the strap and buckle that track your activity level (steps taken and sitting time), plus waist circumference.
文/[许颖珊]（https://www.forbes.com/sites/eustaciahuen/ “https://www.forbes.com/sites/eustaciahuen/"）
贡献者。
游苔莎·休恩（Eustacia Huen），香港美食和奢侈品作家。
这篇文章有8年多的历史了。
通常情况下，只需要裤子的张力就能提醒你吃多了。但现在，有一种智能皮带提供了明确的证据。(吸引…晤。)
这款智能设备像普通腰带一样佩戴，配有一个加速度计，皮带和扣上的传感器标记可以跟踪你的活动水平（步数和坐着的时间），以及腰围。 !/By [Eustac-2129640737.mp3 ^2129640737
[!translator-card-callout]+ Using blue-tooth technology, the data can be synchronized to an app that consolidates and processes all the information. Based on each user’s gender, age, height and weight, along with waist size, activity log and overeating data, the app will rate your overall health score in different colors (Blue: Best, Orange: Good, Red: Poor). What’s more, it will offer helpful tips and a personalized health goal, according to Sean Kang (M.D. and M.P.H.)—CEO of WELT Corporation. 使用蓝牙技术，数据可以同步到一个整合和处理所有信息的应用程序。根据每个用户的性别、年龄、身高和体重，以及腰围、活动记录和暴饮暴食数据，该应用程序将以不同的颜色对你的整体健康评分（蓝色：最好，橙色：好，红色：差）。更重要的是，它将提供有用的建议和个性化的健康目标，据肖恩·康（医学博士和公共卫生学硕士）说，他是WELT公司的首席执行官。 !/Using blue-1975685952.mp3 ^1975685952