The Israeli digital health startup Sweetch has received a $3.5 million Series A financing round to help it develop technology to prevent people who are at risk for diabetes from developing the disease.
More than 86 million adults in the U.S. and 63 million more in Europe have a blood-sugar level that is higher than normal but not yet high enough to be considered diabetes. This pre-diabetic population will most likely develop Type 2 diabetes without intervention. Sweetch hopes to identify individuals at risk of developing diabetes and other chronic conditions and coach them to live healthier lifestyles.
According to Sweetch CEO and cofounder Dana Chanan, figures show that current methods for identifying pre-diabetics miss about 92.5 percent of the actual future diabetic population. Sweetch’s clinical-outcome prediction platform assists in identifying individuals at risk of developing diabetes, and its behavioral analytics engine serves as a personal digital health coach to help people learn how to modify their habits.
Its new funding will be used to complete a pilot program and clinical trials at an internationally-renowned U.S. medical institution, Chanan told Israel21c.
Although reports show that people often stop using wearable health-tracking devices within six months, Chanan believes that incorporating techniques from gaming apps can help with users’ health. “Diabetes is definitely not a game,” she said, “but one of the successes of the gaming industry is its capability to analyze and provide a specific experience for the user as if he’s the only user that exists.”
Sweetch’s proprietary behavioral analytics engine continuously learns the user’s daily habits and uses gamification and behavioral-science methodologies to translate that data into personalized recommendations. These conclusions are then adapted, in real-time, to the user’s actual performance.
“There is no fixed goal that everyone has to achieve. Not everyone is the same. The recommendations and program are for a specific user,” said Chanan.
Several large clinical studies have proven that 150 minutes of activity per week reduce the prediabetes-to-diabetes conversion risk by 58 percent. The same reports show that 80 percent of pre-diabetics do not adhere to recommendations from organizations such as the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association.
Chanan says that for many people, the notion of 150 minutes of exercise can be off-putting. So Sweetch introduces healthier lifestyle in small steps. “If somebody is used to doing no exercise, we won’t say you have to get up and go to the gym for an hour. The 150 minutes has to be part of your day,” Chanan said.
“For example, we can recommend that at lunch break instead of going to the nearest Starbucks, go have your coffee at the Starbucks on a second street, a little further away. There is no big milestone to achieve. The program is adapted to the person.”
Chanan says Sweetch’s behavioral analytics engine can be applied to other significant chronic diseases, such as hypertension and obesity.
(via Israel21c)
[Photo: Mike Mozart / Flickr ]