DietSensor tells you what’s really in your food – Wins the CES Innovation Award.

As the innovative tech rolls out of CES this week, I’d like to point out some of the unique and passionate gadgets that could actually change your life. Enter the DietSensor from innovator, co-founder and CEO, Remy Bonnasse. His product has received the 2016 CES Innovation Award at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. 
For those of you who count your carbs and calories, DietSensor is looking to make your life easier. The French-based startup has created a tool that scans your food and determines its nutritional value. If you are diabetic this could make your life just a little bit easier. The thought is that you can go out to eat at a restaurant or anytime your out of the house, and still keep monitor and track your meals.

“It’s the next generation of diet and nutrition apps,” said Bonnasse. “This will do all the heavy calculation for you. You don’t have to think.” 

There is a compatible app that keeps track of and displays the nutritional content. DietSensor has worked with doctors and nutritionists to create customized diets.

Here’s how they say it works: The handheld scanner sends an infrared beam on the surface of the food or beverage. It then captures the reflected wavelengths that carry the signature of its composition. The DietSensor app will then interpret the data and create a meal profile that provides you with the nutritional facts, along with some general tips about how many calories, carbs, or proteins you should eat for the meal.

Wow! While the idea is interesting, it’s not totally perfect. The scanner can only read foods those with a single level such as chicken, crackers, bread, cheese, and cereal. It was unable to determine the nutrition of a candy bar. While the DietSensor app lets you manually input nutritional data in these situations, that’s no different than apps like MyFitnessPal and Lose It. So there is some work to be done, or some deals to be made.

DietSensor works with a small molecular scanner known as the SCiO. It can collects and displays user-friendly nutritional information on a wide range of food. The SCiO device, which is developed by Israeli company Consumer Physics, claims to be able read the chemical makeup of materials. It’s non-intrusive and doesn’t need to touch the object. You simply point and scan.

The DietSensor will launch in September this year, but will not be cheap. The small SCiO scanner will set you back $249, while the DietSensor app will include a monthly subscription of between $10 to $20. The total cost over a year would be just under $500. While this may be high for the average consumer, someone who has to watch their weight because of medical problems would find this invaluable. And if used with the instruction of a nutritionist, adherence to weight management may be a realistic goal for patients.

DietSensor in motion