Can AI solve ED recovery?

Trigger warning: This article includes mentions of eating disorders. 

FemTech and NeuroTech combined their efforts once again last Wednesday to host Emilie Faure, Founder and CEO of Juniver, a start-up dedicated to helping patients with eating disorders (EDs) receive 24/7 support and guidance during their recovery. Hosted in RSM G20, at 6.30 pm on Thursday 28th November, the event consisted of a 30-minute presentation, followed by a 30-minute Q&A.  

EDs impact 1 out of 10 people in the UK, regardless of demographic, and exist in many forms, from undereating to binge eating, yet only  10% of these people find access to help. This could be in the form of expensive psychotherapist sessions or appointments with the few specialists around, thereby inaccessible to most patients. GPs are not trained well enough to handle or diagnose eating disorders, as their education of EDs is standardised at two hours. 

Furthermore, ED is not only a question of calories and sustenance. Its symptoms include anxiety and depression, gastrointestinal issues, dizziness, diabetes, and in the worst case, cardio-vascular illness. The stereotypical image of a very thin woman, which describes 6% of ED patients, raises risks of infertility or osteoporosis. 

Introduce Juniver, in development since 2020, an AI application aimed to replace the need for specialists by offering at-the-moment, personalised guidance to help its users regain control over their eating habits. It offers them additional tools to log their feelings and thoughts, a community platform to share struggles and inspiring progress, and lessons in mindfulness. 

With a current community of 2,000 users, the company applies machine learning to train an artificially intelligent bot to walk a user through their habits – for example, cravings or skipping meals – and equally aid the company learn more about ED. Specialists and clinicians at the other end of the model use the data to provide feedback and tune the advice. The effectiveness of Juniver, despite its successful pilot period, is yet to be determined, hence Juniver partnered with King’s College University to run clinical trials and get a better understanding of how AI may be used to improve and understand EDs. 

Faure ended the presentation by answering a chain of technical and ethical questions that reflected the lack of research done on the subject and the valued efforts of Juniver Limited to fill that gap.