Healbe's Gobe calorie-counting gadget is based on bad science

[Buster's Uncle]

Healbe's Gobe calorie-counting gadget is based on bad science
Too bad it's overpromising
The Verge
By Elizabeth Lopatto on January 4, 2015 08:13 pm

Hands-On with the Healbe GoBe at CES 2015

Healbe's Gobe device for through-the-skin calorie counting is based on  bad science. The idea is to make it as easy as possible to count calories — but calorie counting isn't a great measure. Worse, when I asked whether the product had been tested, with results published in a peer-reviewed journal (like Science or Nature), George Mikaberidze, the company's managing director, didn't seen to understand the question I was asking.

Peer-reviewed publication is the gold standard for study results in health. Sadly, self-publishing a study doesn't meet those standards; it doesn't inspire much confidence. Mikaberidze was eager to tell me that Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York  and the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Health’s Medical and Sports Clinic had tested the device. I was referred to the website to see the study and results.

On the website, I saw no indication that Sloan-Kettering had been involved. Only 6 people were involved in the tests — a miniscule number by health study standards. In this tiny study, the calorie counter was found to measure calorie intake plus or minus a 15 percent error rate — a large error margin. There's more hope than science in this calorie counter.

The gadget will ship to Indiegogo backers at the end of the month.


http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/4/7492151/ces-2015-healbes-gobe-bad-science