Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) is an effective treatment for managing Type 2 diabetes (T2D), but studieshave shown that few T2D patients adhere to or access it. This low utilization rate can be attributed to the smallnumber of registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) compared to the number of patients with T2D, limitedreimbursement pathways for MNT, and resource constraints in the patient population. These issues areexacerbated in the Latino community due to limited access to care, economic disparities, and few resourcestailored to culture identity. Currently, incorporating cultural relevance into an MNT plan must be done manuallyby an RDN. Existing digital applications focus on meal tracking or discrete biological factors (e.g. gutmicrobiome), supplementing healthy lifestyles rather than supporting MNT delivery and failing to addresspersonal and cultural factors in meal plan creation and adherence.YumAI is a novel AI-based application that delivers and tracks adherence to MNT-compliant recipes that arecustomized to factors such as budget, family, location, season, food preferences, and preparation complexity.By automating meal plan adjustment, YumAI brings customized, high-quality MNT directly to patients throughan easy-to-use digital application available on desktop computers and personal devices.In this Phase I SBIR project, we will further develop this AI-powered application, incorporating feedback frompreliminary testing, ensuring compliance with ADA dietary guidelines and MNT stipulations, and optimizing thesoftware specifically for individuals with T2D of Mexican decent. We will conduct two design thinkingworkshops to identify product features and discover factors in recipe customization and MNT compliance.Through an iterative design process, we will develop a proof of concept of YumAI and demonstrate algorithmiccapabilities that enable basic recipe plan customization. Our two-step approach balances compliance withMNT standards and builds in relevant factors to customize recipe recommendations to user needs.Recognizing the complexity of plan customization and the number of possible dimensions of adherence, thepurpose of the research is to demonstrate technical feasibility of a solution that can be enhanced in futuredevelopment and to identify gaps in data collection.Successful completion of this project will result in a functional prototype of YumAI, the first digital healthmechanism for increasing access to MNT for the Mexican population with T2D. This project will provide proofof concept and feasibility for future studies to scale YumAI for a broader population. It will prepare us for aPhase II project that explores in situ interaction with the product and efficacy of the product in solving issues ofand patient adherence, cultural awareness, and RDN scalability.
Public Health Relevance Statement: PROJECT NARRATIVE
Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT), a holistic component of a Type 2 diabetes (T2D) management plan provided
by a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN), is shown to improve HbA1c, delay complications of T2D, and lead to
significant cost savings compared to other T2D WUeaWPeQW PeWhRdV. The LaWLQR SRSXOaWLRQ, Whe cRXQWU\¶V OaUgeVW
racial/ethnic minority, is disproportionately impacted by T2D largely dXe WR Whe cRPPXQLW\¶V ORZeU-income and
limited access to healthcare services. Kamin Consulting (doing business as Yumlish) aims to develop a digital
application, YumAI, that automates the customization of MNT plans to account for personal and cultural
preferences, resulting in increased access to RDNs and improved adherence to MNT for Latino individuals with
T2D.
Project Terms: Awareness ; Biological Factors ; Biologic Factor ; Budgets ; Communities ; Computers ; Data Collection ; Diabetes Mellitus ; diabetes ; Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus ; Adult-Onset Diabetes Mellitus ; Ketosis-Resistant Diabetes Mellitus ; Maturity-Onset Diabetes Mellitus ; NIDDM ; Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes ; Noninsulin Dependent Diabetes ; Noninsulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus ; Slow-Onset Diabetes Mellitus ; Stable Diabetes Mellitus ; T2 DM ; T2D ; T2DM ; Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus ; Type 2 diabetes ; Type II Diabetes Mellitus ; Type II diabetes ; adult onset diabetes ; ketosis resistant diabetes ; maturity onset diabetes ; type 2 DM ; type II DM ; type two diabetes ; Equilibrium ; balance ; balance function ; Family ; Feedback ; Food ; Food or Food Product ; Food Preferences ; Future ; Goals ; Health behavior ; health related behavior ; Health Resources ; Health Services Accessibility ; Access to Care ; access to health services ; access to services ; access to treatment ; accessibility to health services ; availability of services ; care access ; health service access ; health services availability ; service availability ; treatment access ; Glycosylated hemoglobin A ; Glycohemoglobin A ; Hb A1 ; Hb A1a+b ; Hb A1c ; HbA1 ; HbA1c ; Hemoglobin A(1) ; hemoglobin A1c ; Incidence ; Income ; Economic Income ; Economical Income ; Lead ; Pb element ; heavy metal Pb ; heavy metal lead ; Manuals ; Persons ; Patient Monitoring ; Patients ; Pilot Projects ; pilot study ; Recommendation ; Research ; Resources ; Research Resources ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk ; Seasons ; Computer software ; Software ; Technology ; Testing ; Thinking ; thoughts ; Time ; United States ; Cost Savings ; Businesses ; Diet Habits ; Dietary Habits ; eating habit ; Healthcare ; health care ; Hispanics ; Hispanic Populations ; Latino Population ; Spanish Origin ; hispanic community ; Latino ; Custom ; base ; improved ; Phase ; Medical ; Ensure ; Nutritionist ; Individual ; Mexican ; Educational workshop ; Workshop ; Nutritional Support ; nutritional care ; nutritional therapy ; Insurance Status ; Insurance Coverage ; Dietitian ; Dimensions ; In Situ ; System ; Location ; Visit ; meetings ; Consult ; preference ; American ; success ; Recipe ; novel ; Participant ; Devices ; Medical Nutrition Therapy ; Patient Compliance ; patient adherence ; patient cooperation ; therapy compliance ; therapy cooperation ; treatment compliance ; compliance behavior ; low SES ; low socio-economic position ; low socio-economic status ; low socioeconomic position ; low socioeconomic status ; Low income ; Address ; Adherence ; Affinity ; Not Hispanic or Latino ; Non-Hispanic ; Nonhispanic ; Small Business Innovation Research Grant ; SBIR ; Small Business Innovation Research ; Preparation ; Process ; Development ; developmental ; Pathway interactions ; pathway ; digital ; design ; designing ; Minority ; diabetes management ; diabetic management ; Outcome ; cost effective ; Population ; ethnic minority population ; ethnic minority ; racial and ethnic ; ethnoracial ; usability ; iterative design ; prototype ; patient population ; effective therapy ; effective treatment ; social health determinants ; healthy lifestyle ; healthy life-style ; gut microbiome ; GI microbiome ; digestive tract microbiome ; enteric microbiome ; gastrointestinal microbiome ; gut-associated microbiome ; intestinal biome ; intestinal microbiome ; health care service ; healthcare service ; health care availability ; access to health care ; access to healthcare ; accessibility of health care ; accessibility to health care ; accessibility to healthcare ; health care access ; health care service access ; health care service availability ; healthcare access ; healthcare accessibility ; healthcare availability ; healthcare service access ; healthcare service availability ; dietary guidelines ; classification algorithm ; digital health ; economic disparity ; Algorithms ; Artificial Intelligence ; AI system ; Computer Reasoning ; Machine Intelligence ;
