The problem
A global health crisis
Despite its many benefits, the modern lifestyle has contributed to the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity becoming a global health crisis. Around 3 billion people worldwide are were overweight or obese, and this number if growing.
Overweight and obesity as a chronic illness
Overweight and obesity are a chronical illness that lead to various physiological changes in the body. A key consequence is a state of chronic inflamation. It increases the risk for various other illnesses, including some forms of cancer, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, liver, and kidney disease, to name a few. Because of this health risk but also the associated aesthetic burden, 45% of the global population is currently trying to lose weight.
No easy fix
Since the habits underlying weight gain are notoriously difficult to change, these attempts mostly result only in temporary success followed by weight gain that often surpasses the previous weight loss (i.e., the infamous yo-yo effect).
Medical interventions such as bariatric surgery or the recent breakthroughs with antidiabetic medications (e.g., Ozempic) may support behavioral changes, but often only have a temporary effect, and weight regain is a common problem when previous behavioral patterns reemerge.
Our approach
Every human individual is a highly complex system: body and mind are influenced by – and in turn also influence – genome, environment, and behavior in a highly complex network of causal relationships. Overweight and obesity have their roots in all these elements. Comparing two human individuals, any of these elements are different and highly complex by themselves. This makes clear that a sustainable long-term solution for a person’s weight problem must consider all these elements, and a highly personalized approach is crucial.
Gamification to tackle unhealthy habits
Unhealthy habits are very difficult to change. We use gamification to make building up new habits easier and more fun.
Just-in-time incentives to deal with lack of motivation
In daily life, immediate gratification wins over delayed consequences. Our solution provides personalized just-in-time incentives for healthy behavior.
External weight regulator to rebalance distorted weight regulation
In overweight and obese patients, feedback loops and set-points of the body are distorted. Our solution provides new set-points and feedback mechanisms from outside the body.