# P-FITS: The Pediatric Food Intake Technology System

> **NIH NIH R43** · VIOCARE, INC. · 2020 · $225,000

## Abstract

Diet plays an integral role in the physical, emotional, and general health of children and adolescents. The
consequences of poor diet during this critical time period are long-lasting, with nutritional status being a strong
risk factor of chronic diseases throughout adulthood. Current dietary assessment tools available for self-
administration in older children are extremely limited, particularly among U.S. populations. Across clinical,
research, and community settings, there is an increasing demand for specifically designed instruments that can
accurately, reliably, and efficiently assess usual dietary intakes of children and adolescents. Technological
advancements allow for commonly used dietary assessment tools to be automated, visually-appealing, and
web-based for easy administration by computer, tablet, or smartphone. They are also capable of providing
quick analyses of dietary intakes, incorporating comparisons of nutrient/food group intakes to national
recommendations, dietary quality measures, and other health-related scores, such as food processing level.
The proposed project will address the outstanding need for a technologically advanced dietary assessment tool
specific to the U.S. pediatric population by creating the Pediatric Food Intake System (P-FITS). P-FITS will
integrate Viocare’s VioScreen technology with targeted nutrient and/or food group 24-hour recalls to estimate
usual dietary intakes in U.S. children ages 8-14 years. Phase I will develop a prototype of P-FITS to test
feasibility for diet assessment self-administration within the pediatric population, followed by validation in
Phase II.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10081689
- **Project number:** 1R43HD103531-01
- **Recipient organization:** VIOCARE, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Rick Weiss
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $225,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-15 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10081689

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10081689, P-FITS: The Pediatric Food Intake Technology System (1R43HD103531-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10081689. Licensed CC0.

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