# P-FITS: The Pediatric Food Intake Technology System

> **NIH NIH R44** · VIOCARE, INC. · 2024 · $748,669

## 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 for chronic conditions throughout adolescence and 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 mobile
targeted 24-hour food group screeners to estimate usual dietary intakes in U.S. children ages 8-13 years. This
Phase II research study will develop and test the technical capabilities, usability, validity, and reliability of the
fully functional version of P-FITS.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10931672
- **Project number:** 5R44HD103531-03
- **Recipient organization:** VIOCARE, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Rick Weiss
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $748,669
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-15 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10931672

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10931672, P-FITS: The Pediatric Food Intake Technology System (5R44HD103531-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10931672. Licensed CC0.

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