# IoT-Based Smart-Toilet and Mobile App for Passively Quantifying Objective Urinary Biomarkers of Dietary Intake and Personalizing Nutrition Guidance

> **NIH NIH R43** · BENDER TECH, LLC · 2020 · $55,000

## Abstract

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), roughly 46% of the U.S. adult
population suffers from high blood pressure (hypertension). Hypertension is a modifiable risk
factor for heart disease, stroke, and renal failure. It has been estimated that improving preventative
clinical care for hypertension, compared to all other preventative health measures, would prevent
the largest number of deaths in the U.S. In addition to high morbidity and mortality, hypertension
exhibits a major economic burden on the U.S. healthcare system. Hypertension is the costliest of
all cardiovascular diseases, inflicting an estimated $131B annually.
Guidelines recommend “healthy lifestyle interventions,” including a healthier diet and a
reduction in dietary sodium intake, before starting pharmaceutical interventions. Current methods
for monitoring compliance rely on burdensome and inaccurate methods. The 24-hour recall
possesses well-established inaccuracies and individuals tend to do a poor job of estimating the salt
content of foods. Roughly a third of American adults are actively trying to lower their dietary
sodium intake. However, few meet this goal. When surveyed as to why it is difficult to maintain
a low sodium diet, individuals report the lack of dietary feedback mechanisms as one of the most
significant barriers. Medications are typically prescribed next, but nearly 50% of patients stop
taking medications within 6-12 months.
As to why this happens, survey’s show most
hypertensives want to avoid side-effects and taking a pill forever.
In addition to value for the physician for monitoring compliance to lifestyle interventions,
self-monitoring provides significant value for the patient. Self-monitoring improves self-efficacy
and has routinely demonstrated its ability to lead to better dietary and other lifestyle behavior
change outcomes. For example, a 2018 study demonstrated urinary sodium tracking helped a
Japanese cohort decrease sodium intake and reduce systolic blood pressure in a randomized trial.

Even this modest degree of sodium reduction (1 g) would “result in large declines in annual rates
of cardiovascular events and deaths (with new cases of CHD declining by 20,000 to 40,000, new
and recurrent cases of myocardial infarction by 18,000 to 35,000, new cases of stroke by 11,000
to 23,000, and deaths from any cause by 15,000 to 32,000)” and save billions in healthcare costs.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10045761
- **Project number:** 3R43MD014073-01S1
- **Recipient organization:** BENDER TECH, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Brian Francis Bender
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $55,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-07-15 → 2021-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10045761

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10045761, IoT-Based Smart-Toilet and Mobile App for Passively Quantifying Objective Urinary Biomarkers of Dietary Intake and Personalizing Nutrition Guidance (3R43MD014073-01S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10045761. Licensed CC0.

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