Breakthrough in Dietary Assessment Advancing Maternal-Child Health Research

February 17, 2022

Diet ID, a Michigan Rise portfolio company, announced plans to work with Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and Henry Ford Health Systems on two separate research studies on the impact of diet in pregnant women.

Together with Associate Professor, Jean M. Kerver, PhD (Nutrition), MSc (Epidemiology), RDN, Diet ID will be used as part of a research study in pregnant and post-partum high-risk women. The Diet ID platform will be a resource to assess the participants’ diet type and diet quality during the study. This partnership with Diet ID and MSU was made possible through the Michigan Health Endowment Fund for a Food as Medicine project targeting high-risk, pregnant and postpartum women.

“When I tried it, I was pleased with how quick and user-friendly Diet ID is,” said Dr. Kerver, College of Human Medicine, MSU. “As a nutrition researcher, I’m always looking for diet assessment tools that minimize time and effort for study participants.”

Diet ID is also partnering with Henry Ford Health System on REACH (Research Enterprise to Advance Children’s Health). This observational study aims to look at 3000 pregnant women in the Metro Detroit area and follow participants until their babies are at least two years old.

“The microbial community colonizing a newborn baby’s gastrointestinal tract is very important for the ongoing development of that community, which we believe has a strong impact on the optimal development of the baby’s immune system. Understanding this relationship could lead to better child and adult health and specifically the prevention of allergy and allergic asthma,” said Laura Susick, PhD of Henry Ford Health System. “This study will identify relationships between factors influencing a mother’s gastrointestinal and vaginal microbes during pregnancy, and how these factors and the mother’s microbes affect her newborn’s gastrointestinal microbial community and immune system development from birth through the first years of life. We believe that taken together these advances in understanding will lay the foundation for a strategy for the primary prevention of allergies and asthma.”

“There is no more important time to address lifelong health, and the key role of diet, than at the start, during pregnancy and infancy. The Diet ID team is genuinely thrilled to be contributing to research in the vital areas of pregnancy outcomes, and maternal-child health,” said Dr. David Katz, founder and CEO of Diet ID.

Michigan Rise Pre-Seed Fund III is managed by the Michigan State University Foundation and supported by both the Foundation and Michigan Economic Development Corporation to provide early-stage investment capital and support to Michigan high-tech, high-growth startups. Michigan Rise made its first investment in Diet ID in 2020 and has followed the progress of this innovative digital healthcare company closely.

“Diet ID’s mission to make diet a vital sign is a big audacious goal in healthcare we are excited to support,” said Prem Bodagala, Director at Michigan Rise. “Diet ID has the team to execute that mission and we are proud to partner with them in the form of capital and support by leveraging relationships emanating from Michigan State University’s strategic goals around sustainable health by the year 2030.”

About Michigan State University Foundation
Established in 1973 as an independent non-profit, the Michigan State University Foundation is committed to the commercialization of cutting-edge technologies invented by MSU faculty, staff, and students. The MSU Foundation’s overarching goal is to support research, innovation, and entrepreneurship at the University. Additionally, the MSU Foundation operates Spartan Innovations, Red Cedar Ventures, Michigan Rise and incubator facilities to help drive economic development. More information on the organization’s notable achievements, services, leadership, and history are available at www.msufoundation.org.

About Michigan Rise
Michigan Rise is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Michigan State University Foundation. Founded in 2020, Michigan Rise invests in early-stage high tech businesses located in Michigan. For more information on Michigan Rise visit www.michiganrise.com.

About Diet ID
Diet ID, a Michigan company, utilizes a novel, patent-pending approach to dietary assessment based on pattern recognition, rather than the customary recall. The system, accessible via any web-enabled device, generates a comprehensive assessment of dietary intake- diet type, diet quality (using the Healthy Eating Index 2015), daily servings of all major food groups, and levels of 150 nutrients- in as little as 60 seconds. Available in English and Spanish, the image-based app is ideal for low literacy populations. For more information on Diet ID, visit dietid.com.

About Henry Ford
Henry Ford Health System is committed to improving the health and well-being of our diverse Michigan community. Founded in 1915 by auto pioneer Henry Ford and now one of the nation's leading health care providers, Henry Ford Health System is a not-for-profit corporation managed by Chief Executive Officer Wright L. Lassiter, III and governed by a 17-member Board of Trustees, with volunteer-led advisory and affiliate boards providing additional leadership.

It is comprised of hospitals, medical centers and one of the nation's largest group practices, the Henry Ford Medical Group, which includes more than 1,200 physicians practicing in over 40 specialties. The System's flagship, Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, is a Level 1 Trauma Center recognized for clinical excellence in cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, sports medicine, multi-organ transplants and cancer treatment.

With more than 30,000 employees, Henry Ford Health System is the fifth-largest employer in metro Detroit, and among the most diverse.

Press release link: https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/563395733/breakthrough-in-dietary-assessment-advancing-maternal-child-health-research