Newly Published Mayo Clinic and VA Studies: Dieta’s AI Enhances Management of Cirrhosis

Dieta Health is proud to announce two pioneering studies conducted in collaboration with Mayo Clinic, Veterans Health Administration (VA), and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) led by renowned researchers Dr. Douglas Simonetto at the Mayo Clinic and Dr. Jasmohan Bajaj at the VA and VCU. 

Read the full studies here:

These studies, newly published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, demonstrate the significant impact of Dieta’s AI technology in advancing the management of cirrhosis and prevention of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Utilizing proprietary AI stool image classification, Dieta's app offers unprecedented precision in monitoring and managing outcomes of this complex condition, empowering both patients and healthcare providers with real-time, actionable insights. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in our mission to revolutionize gastrointestinal health care, demonstrating the potential of AI to improve patient outcomes in cirrhosis management.

Mayo Clinic Study Overview:

Under the leadership of Dr. Simonetto, the Mayo Clinic study investigated the effectiveness of Dieta's AI app in assisting patients with cirrhosis in the titration of lactulose, a key treatment for HE. The study involved 42 subjects.

Key findings include:

  • The intervention phase—where participants actively used Dieta's AI app—showed an improvement in achieving Bristol Stool Scale (BSS) goals (74%) compared to the lead-in phase—a preliminary period without the app (68%). This demonstrates the app's effectiveness in aiding optimal lactulose adjustment.

  • Significant improvement in goal achievement for less compliant subjects, from 56% to 75% for BSS goals during the intervention phase.

  • High user satisfaction, with 86% finding the app user-friendly and 95% willing to recommend it to others.

VA & VCU Study Highlights:

Dr. Bajaj's research at the VA highlighted the Dieta app's role in facilitating better self-management of lactulose therapy among cirrhosis patients. The study approached 61 subjects (15 controls and 46 patients with cirrhosis), with 46 completing the study. 

Key findings include:

  • Over time, patients demonstrated a significant increase in the correlation between lactulose dose adjustments and AI-BSS, from r=0.82 by day 7 to r=0.92 by day 10, indicating that the AI tool effectively guided patients in accurately titrating their lactulose dosage to achieve desired stool consistency

  • In a second phase without AI-BSS communication, the significant correlation observed in the initial phase became non-significant, underscoring the value of AI communication in treatment adjustments.

  • AI-BSS showed a significant correlation with daily BMs (r=0.66, p=0.02), whereas Self-BSS did not show a significant correlation (r=0.47, p=0.18). This suggests that AI-BSS may be more closely related to actual BM frequency than patients' self-assessments.

Impact and Future Directions:

The recent studies conducted by the Mayo Clinic and the VA and VCU affirm the significant impact of Dieta Health's AI technology in transforming the management of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) in patients with cirrhosis. By offering precise, AI-powered stool assessments, our technology empowers patients to fine-tune their treatment regimens, aiming to enhance their quality of life and diminish the frequency of hospital admissions. 

This success illustrates the broader potential of Dieta's AI in clinical scenarios that have traditionally depended on patient-reported stool observations, including preparations for colonoscopy, and the management of conditions like IBS, constipation, Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and pancreas and liver diseases that impact stool appearance."

Encouraged by these findings, we are excited to deepen our research collaborations with both the Mayo Clinic and the VA on hepatic encephalopathy. Moreover, we are eager to expand our research to explore the benefits of accurate, objective stool imaging AI in a wider array of conditions and clinical settings.

Dieta Presents Two Successful Clinical Trials of AI Technology at DDW Conference 2023

CHICAGO, IL - May 9, 2023 - Dieta Health, digital health startup building gastroenterology AI, is proud to announce the results of two cutting-edge studies presented at the Digestive Disease Week (DDW) Conference 2023, showcasing the potential of its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smartphone app in assessing and monitoring gastrointestinal conditions. 

The first study was led by Dr. Gil Melmed, a distinguished inflammatory bowel disease specialist and Director of Clinical Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Cedars-Sinai. This study examined the relationship between stool characteristics, as measured by Dieta’s stool image recognition AI platform, and inflammation in patients with acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC). The Dieta app was employed to capture stool images and analyze various characteristics, such as Bristol stool scale, consistency, edge fuzziness, fragmentation, and volume. As part of its initiative to expand to IBD beyond IBS, Dieta added new stool characteristics to its platform including mucus, blood, and color. The results indicated a significant correlation between AI measurements of Bristol stool scale, stool consistency, and stool fragmentation with C-reactive protein (CRP) values in hospitalized ASUC patients. Specifically, Bristol stool scale and fragmentation positively correlated with CRP (p=0.026 and 0.049), while consistency negatively correlated with CRP (p=0.047). Additionally, the presence of mucus in stool images was associated with higher median CRP values. These findings suggest that AI-driven analysis of stool characteristics can provide valuable insights into inflammation levels in ASUC patients, offering a potential non-invasive tool for disease monitoring and management.

 

The Ulcerative Colitis presentation poster

 

The second study, spearheaded by Dr. Mark Pimentel, a renowned gastroenterologist and Executive Director of the Medically Associated Science and Technology (MAST) Program at Cedars-Sinai, focused on irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D). This study explored the relationship between real-time AI stool imaging using the Dieta app and lactulose breath test results, which give insights into the gut microbiome. The research findings demonstrated a significant correlation between AI-driven stool analysis and breath test results. Specifically, methane positivity - associated with certain bacteria in the gut microbiome - predicted less diarrhea severity, while hydrogen sulfide positivity - indicative of a different microbial environment - predicted more diarrhea severity and higher volume stool, with effects beginning at ≥2ppm and increasing with higher levels. This research represents a significant step in understanding the complex relationship between the gut microbiome and IBS-D symptoms. It provides a basis for better categorizing patients based on similar symptoms, lab results, and microbiome characteristics, potentially enabling more personalized and effective treatment strategies in the future.

 

The IBS-D presentation poster

 

These studies highlight the potential of Dieta Health's AI technology as a non-invasive tool for monitoring gastrointestinal conditions. The app's ability to accurately assess stool characteristics will revolutionize the way physicians and patients approach disease monitoring and management. Dieta is incredibly proud of these results and most grateful to our friends at Cedars-Sinai, both on the IBD and IBS research teams, for their partnership and enthusiasm for innovation on behalf of patients. 

Read the 2 abstracts below:

  1. Ulcerative Colitis Study

  2. IBS-D Study

We look forward to further research and collaboration to continue refining our technology and expanding its applications. With a few active clinical trials running currently, we hope to have even better results to present.

All interested users of the Dieta technology can email Founder & CEO Asaf Kraus at asaf@dietahealth.com

Dieta Health Showcases Its Innovative AI Technology at Pfizer's HQ in New York City

NEW YORK, September 28, 2022

Dieta Health's CEO, Asaf Kraus, had the exciting opportunity to present our cutting-edge technology and vision for the future of gastrointestinal (GI) care at Pfizer's headquarters in New York City. This presentation comes after Pfizer's recent acquisition of Arena Pharmaceuticals, a GI-focused pharmaceutical company. Last year, Dieta Health secured second place in Arena's innovation challenge, further highlighting the potential impact of our technology on the GI field.

The event showcased the remarkable potential at the intersection of digital health, artificial intelligence (AI), and the pharmaceutical industry. Dieta Health's AI-driven stool image recognition technology has already demonstrated several significant use cases, promising to revolutionize the way digestive outcomes are measured and monitored.

Asaf's presentation emphasized the value of Dieta Health's technology in providing more accurate diagnoses and improving patient care. By working closely with pharmaceutical industry leaders like Pfizer, Dieta Health aims to advance the field of gastroenterology and contribute to the development of innovative treatments for GI disorders.

Dieta AI Validation Study Presented at Digestive Disease Week 2022 in San Diego

TUESDAY, May 31, 2022, San Diego, California

Dieta Health's revolutionary stool image recognition AI technology took center stage at Digestive Disease Week 2022, the world's leading gastroenterology conference. Dr. Mark Pimentel from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was chosen to present the results of the validation study, demonstrating the effectiveness and accuracy of our technology in measuring digestive outcomes.

Our clinical trial revealed that Dieta Health's AI image recognition technology surpasses the current standard of relying on patient-reported outcomes. In a room filled with eager gastroenterologists, Dr. Pimentel shared the groundbreaking findings and addressed questions from the captivated audience.

The enthusiastic response from the attendees made it evident that our innovative solution has the potential to transform the way digestive outcomes are measured and monitored, paving the way for more accurate diagnoses and improved patient care. This presentation marked a significant milestone for Dieta Health, showcasing the impact our technology can have on the field of gastroenterology.

Published Clinical Study: Dieta's Stool Image AI is Validated as Superior to Gastroenterology's Industry Standard

Peer-reviewed publication in the American Journal of Gastroenterology found Dieta's AI to be comparable in accuracy to expert gastroenterologists and superior to patients in classifying stool

LOS ANGELES, April 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dieta Health, a gastroenterology digital health company, today announced the peer-reviewed publication of a clinical study that found its AI to be comparable in accuracy to expert gastroenterologists and superior to patients in classifying stool. 

Dieta is revolutionizing digestive healthcare with its personalized IBS care platform. The company has built the world's first mobile app with stool image recognition technology, making the measurement of digestive outcomes (poop) objective instead of subjective. The technology was validated in a published clinical trial at Cedars-Sinai, proving to be more accurate than the current industry standard of patient reported outcomes.

About the company and founder: 

CEO and Founder, Asaf Kraus, is a Data Scientist and IBS patient, passionate about solving digestive health issues for millions of others who have suffered like him. In 2017, at the height of severity of his IBS, Kraus spent all his time outside of work consulting with gastroenterologists and other clinicians and experimenting with dozens of treatment options. Kraus learned a great deal about the painful and confusing journey of an IBS patient. Given his machine learning expertise as a Data Scientist at Uber, he formed a belief that data and AI can help solve some of these problems.

The most significant revelation came years ago when Kraus participated as a subject in a clinical trial, testing an experimental medication. During that experience, he learned how the scientific community was measuring results of interventions on stool – by asking patients to remember and subjectively classify their stool on the Bristol Scale. 


As a result of this experience matched with data science expertise, Dieta built a mobile app for iOS and Android which lets patients conveniently snap an image of each bowel movement, and instantly classifies objective and accurate digestive health results. In addition to the Bristol Scale, the Dieta app also classifies multiple other stool characteristics including volume and fragmentation from a single image capture.


Today, the results of a groundbreaking human clinical trial validating Dieta’s stool image recognition technology were published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.


About the clinical trial: 

The trial was run by the MAST Program (Medically Associated Science and Technology Program) team at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. Principal investigator, Dr. Mark Pimentel M.D. is a world-renowned gastroenterologist and researcher, credited for the discovery of many innovative IBS treatments and diagnostics. 


Patients recruited by Cedars-Sinai used Dieta’s app to capture stool images before, during, and after taking an experimental medication throughout 2021. Two expert gastroenterology professors then manually classified over 200 images of stool to create a “gold standard” on which to compare Dieta’s AI to the current standard of patient reported classifications.


The AI was shown to be comparable in accuracy to expert gastroenterologists and superior to patients in classifying stool. 


The numbers: 

  • Dieta’s AI was more sensitive (83%) and specific (94%) when compared to patients (55% and 71% respectively). 

  • Dieta’s AI stool classifications were more correlated (0.71) to the patients’ symptom severity scores as compared to even the patients’ own classifications (0.46).

Dr. Pimentel found that "Dieta’s stool image recognition objectified constipation, diarrhea and normal stools so there was less subjective patient influence on trial outcomes.” The validation study proved that AI was far more accurate than patient self-reporting. “This could be a game-changer in terms of more clearly seeing true effects on patient stool outcomes and side effects of drugs in clinical trials for gastroenterology and beyond”, Dr. Pimentel said.

Dieta is working with other GI pharmaceutical companies to adopt stool image recognition technology as a measurement tool to collect better data and truly understand the impact of their medications on stool outcomes. 


In addition to the proprietary stool imaging AI, Dieta’s platform for patients offers much more. Patients can also snap photos of meals, track medications and symptoms, and get guidance on choosing interventions (treatments) as they work towards improving their digestive health. Patients can also easily share their data with their clinicians to view on Dieta’s Clinician Portal.


Dieta’s applications have been used by over 7,000 patients. Next month, Dieta is planning on launching a patient care service, where patients who use the platform can also connect with a unified team of gastroenterologists, dietitians, and coaches to get guidance and care directly in the Dieta app.


Dieta Health raised $1.9 million in its pre-seed funding round, and is backed by Techstars, and investors/partners including Cedars-Sinai (an international leader in gastroenterology), and UnitedHealthcare (the world’s largest healthcare payer). 

Dieta’s AI is superior to current standards, and its vision for solving IBS using data, alongside medical guidance and personal coaching is a win-win, improving the patient experience and saving time, money and stress. 

About Dieta Health: A better way to manage and treat IBS, Dieta uses AI to personalize digestive healthcare for the 11% of the global population that suffers from digestive disorders. The first company to validate stool image recognition in a human clinical trial which makes the measurement of digestive outcomes (poop) objective instead of subjective. Dieta is based in Los Angeles and backed by Techstars, UnitedHealthcare (the world’s largest healthcare payer), and Cedars-Sinai (a top medical center for gastroenterology). Download the app with Android or iOS.

Dieta Unveils AI Validation Research and Wins ACG Presidential Award (Top 5% GI Studies)

Las Vegas, NV - October 27th, 2021: At the American College of Gastroenterology conference in Las Vegas, Dieta unveiled its AI validation study in partnership with the MAST Program of Cedars Sinai Medical Center. Dieta was honored to win the ACG Presidential Poster Award for this research, a prestigious award that is given to less than 5% of gastroenterology abstracts.

The purpose of this study was to validate Dieta’s stool image recognition technology as an accurate outcomes measurement tool in human GI clinical trials. As a sub-study or a larger human clinical trial, a group of 14 patients were randomly selected and 219 associated stool images captured from the Dieta mobile app in the clinical trial were assessed. 2 expert gastroenterology professors then manually annotated each image with 5 different stool characteristics. The range or scores for each variable was (1-7) for Bristol Score and 0-100 for each of consistency, edge fuzziness, fragmentation and volume. Dieta’s computer vision AI algorithms also scored the same set of images for comparison and validation. There was a strong agreement between the experts and AI for most of stool characteristics. The agreement with AI was not different from the agreement between the 2 experts (Dr. Mark Pimentel and Dr. Ali Rezaie).

A full academic medical paper will be published in a peer reviewed journal detailing this research in the months to come.

Pictured below, Dieta CEO Asaf Kraus with the award-winning poster and Cedars Sinai gastroenterology researchers Dr. Mark Pimentel and Dr. Ali Rezaie.

Dieta Health raises $1.2M to Personalize Digestive Healthcare

Los Angeles, CA - August 19th, 2021: Dieta Health announced a $1.2M pre-seed funding round led by Tom Williams of Heron Rock Fund with participation from Techstars Ventures (follow-on), Cedars-Sinai, and Verissimo Ventures. The group of investors backing Dieta include the largest healthcare payer, a top gastroenterology medical center, and a robust group of healthcare entrepreneurs and corporate leaders. This capital raise highlights Dieta’s vision of building a future where digestive healthcare is more affordable, accessible, and personalized with AI. The additional investment will allow Dieta to accelerate the expansion of its platform to more healthcare institutions and GI patients. 

Irritable Bowel Syndrome affects 11% of the global population. But what makes this condition particularly hard to treat is the difficulty in defining and objectively measuring it. Bowel movements have always been measured subjectively, with patients observing their stool and guessing how to report it to their doctors based on the Bristol Stool Scale. Doctors and clinicians use these subjective descriptions to try to choose between hundreds of treatments options that are available to patients, often getting it wrong and leaving the patient confused and demoralized. 

Dieta has built the world’s first mobile app with stool image recognition technology to objectively measure multiple characteristics of stool and use the resulting data to classify patients into distinct categories. Dieta’s stool AI technology was recently validated in a human clinical trial at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where AI classifications were compared to annotations of expert gastroenterologists (results expected to be published in October 2021). The Dieta platform also helps manage GI care by letting patients track diet, medications, treatment interventions, and communicate with their clinical team.

The Dieta Team is Growing:

Dieta Health is HIRING - for business development & operations, product management, data science, and design. Coming out of 2 of the top healthcare accelerator programs, validating its AI technology in a clinical trial, and signing its first 3 institutional customers, there is no better time to join this team and movement to revolutionize digestive healthcare.

About the team: 

 
minnyteam.png
 

Asaf Kraus, Dieta’s CEO and Founder, is a professional data scientist and an IBS patient. In 2017, he was working on machine learning applications as a Data Scientist at Uber, when he was diagnosed with IBS. He spent most of his time outside of work for 1 year consulting with many clinicians, experimenting with dozens of treatment options, and even participating in a clinical trial with an experimental medication (where the idea for stool image recognition was born). The painful and confusing journey he faced as a patient led him to believe there was a better way to measure and manage IBS, one that leveraged modern data and AI technologies. Dieta’s applications have already been used by over 5,000 patients and dozens of clinicians. And the Dieta team is looking forward to scaling this technology to millions more patients with this important milestone of Dieta’s first fundraise.

For more information contact support@dietahealth.com or visit dietahealth.com


Dieta Inc., 15 Locust Ave, Oak Park, CA 91377, United States of America+1.8182922954contact@bigdieta.com

Dieta’s services provide health information only, and do not provide a diagnosis. The recommendations respond to the information entered, and the information provided is based on risk factors and statistics, rather than a human-personalized assessment. These services are not a substitute for a doctor, and should never be used in a medical emergency.

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