Early-stage healthtech

Understanding how
we eat — and helping
us change it.

ReFraem explores how wearable sensing and AI can reveal eating and drinking patterns, helping individuals and coaches gain insight and support healthier habits.

Express early interest See our progress
Why now
For the health-conscious consumer
What you eat matters. How you eat matters just as much.
Speed, timing, chewing frequency, eating patterns — these shape digestion, satiety, and behaviour in ways most people never get to see. Wearables track sleep, steps, heart rate, even glucose. Eating behaviour has always been the gap.
For the professional
True, continuous data is missing. So is in-between coaching.
87% of nutrition professionals cite non-adherence as their biggest challenge. They work from what patients remember — not from what actually happened between sessions.
PubMed, Bleich et al.
The problem

Eating behaviour is largely invisible

We track sleep, steps, and heart rate — yet what we eat and how we eat remains one of the last blind spots in personal health.

  • Automatic and unnoticed Most people eat without conscious awareness of their patterns — speed, portion timing, emotional triggers.
  • Manual tracking is burdensome Food logs and calorie counting are inaccurate and unsustainable. Adherence typically drops within weeks.
  • Coaches lack objective data Dietitians and lifestyle coaches rely on self-reported, often inaccurate information to guide behaviour change.
Traditional approach
Food diary — manual, delayed, incomplete
Recall-based, ~60% accuracy
No patterns or real-time context
ReFraem
Continuous, passive, real-world sensing
Objective patterns, not self-report
AI-driven insights for coaches & users
The concept

Making eating patterns visible

A discreet in-ear wearable collects signals during everyday life — no logging, no friction — then AI surfaces meaningful patterns.

01
In-ear device
Passively captures chewing, swallowing & micro-movements throughout the day
Patented technology
→
02
Signal processing
Raw sensor data is filtered and segmented into eating & drinking events
→
03
AI & machine learning
AI models identify patterns — speed, frequency, timing and context of eating behaviour
→
04
Personal insights
Your eating pattern mapped and translated into clear, personal understanding via report and daily alerts
→
05
AI nudging
Real-time prompts developed with dietitians — delivered at the right moment to support healthier choices
Development stage note: The wearable device, machine learning models, and AI nudging components are currently in active development. Pilots are ongoing with early participants. We are transparent about what works and what is still being validated.
The experience

Your eating day, made visible

Timeline
Every eating moment, mapped
See when you ate throughout the day. Each moment plotted so patterns become visible over time — width reflects duration.
Duration & pace
How long, how fast
Chewing frequency reveals whether you're eating mindfully or rushing — one of the strongest predictors of overeating.
Physiological response
Heart rate during meals
Elevated heart rate while eating can signal stress or rushing. ReFraem surfaces this so you can connect body state to eating behaviour.
AI guidance
Contextual, not generic
Late-night snack detected? ReFraem considers context — hunger-driven eating is different from stress snacking, and the guidance reflects that.
Thursday · March 13
Today
Eating timeline
7
12
17
22
meal
snack
late
Lunch · 12:45
22 min · 44 chews/min
Mindful
Heart rate · 71 bpm avg
Late snack · 22:45
6 min · 61 chews/min
Late
ReFraem insight
Evening eating patterns vary per person. Notice how you feel before and after — awareness of hunger and fullness cues is often the first step toward change.
7
moments
44
chews/min
69bpm
avg HR
Where we are

Early progress, clear direction

Building with academic partners and real-world participants. Every step is evidence-driven.

Now
Working prototypes
Working prototypes using patented in-ear sensing hardware. Backend pipeline operational — data is being collected and processed.
Now
Early pilot programme
First participants using the prototype. Real-world eating data collection in progress.
Next
ML model development
Training classification models on collected data. Improving detection accuracy for eating events and patterns.
Future
AI nudging & academic partnerships
Personalised AI-driven nudges for behaviour change. Actively seeking academic collaboration to validate findings.
Potential impact

Where ReFraem could make a difference

From personal awareness to clinical research — objective eating data unlocks value across the health ecosystem.

Consumer health
Individuals gain objective insight into their own eating behaviour — speed, timing, patterns — without manual logging. A mirror into habits that were previously invisible.
Lifestyle & coaching
Dietitians and lifestyle coaches receive data-driven context to personalise guidance. Replace guesswork with evidence, and track real behaviour change over time. Particularly relevant for structured lifestyle programmes where data continuity between sessions is a known gap.
Academic research
Novel real-world datasets on eating behaviour for nutrition science and behavioural research. ReFraem creates data infrastructure that simply did not exist before.
The vision

A new layer of
behavioural insight

Most aspects of personal health are now measurable. Sleep trackers, fitness wearables, heart rate monitors — all have created new categories of insight and behaviour change.

Eating behaviour remains the missing piece. What we eat, how fast we eat, when we eat — none of this is captured passively today.

ReFraem aims to change that — making eating as measurable as sleep, and as actionable as steps.

Measurable today
Sleep patterns
Physical activity
Heart rate & HRV
Blood glucose (CGM)
The gap ReFraem fills
Eating behaviour — passively & continuously
"The next frontier in preventive health is understanding not just what people eat — but how, when, and why."
ReFraem founder perspective
About

Built by people who believe
in evidence over guesswork

Photo coming soon
Joost Vastert
Founder, ReFraem
Background in innovation and venture building. Passionate about closing the gap between behavioural science and wearable technology.

ReFraem is an early-stage initiative combining wearable sensing, AI, and behavioural research. We move fast, stay honest about our stage, and build on real data from real participants — using working prototypes backed by a live data pipeline.

Hardware & technology
Patented in-ear sensing hardware — prototype partner
FoodSteps Dietisten — pilot partner
Working backend & data pipeline in place
Academic partnerships — actively seeking
Join the founding team

We're looking for early believers

No salaries yet — but a real problem, working prototypes, and a seat at the table from day one. If any of these resonate, we'd love to talk.

ML / Signal processing
Biosignal engineer
Experience with sensor data, classification models, or acoustic signal processing. Interested in applying ML to real-world eating behaviour detection.
I'm interested →
Science
Behavioural scientist or dietitian
Background in nutrition, behaviour change, or health psychology. Keen to help validate our approach and connect findings to real clinical or coaching contexts.
I'm interested →
Business
Co-founder
Experience in healthtech, digital health, or B2B SaaS. Excited by the challenge of taking novel behavioural data to market — with coaches, clinics, or research partners.
I'm interested →

These are co-founder and early collaborator roles — equity-based, not salaried positions.

Get involved

Follow ReFraem's journey

Whether you're an investor, a potential partner, or a researcher — we'd love to hear from you.

For investors
Investor enquiries
Early-stage investment opportunity in a novel healthtech vertical. We share our data, roadmap, and financials with serious investors.
Send enquiry →
For organisations
Partner with us
Healthcare providers, lifestyle programs, or research institutions — let's explore how ReFraem data and insights can add value to your work.
Explore partnership →
For individuals
Join the pilot
Interested in being among the first to experience ReFraem? Sign up to our early access list and we'll be in touch when we expand our pilot.
Register interest →
For dietitian practices
Become a practice partner
Running a dietitian practice in Utrecht or Brabant? We're looking for a small number of practice partners for our next pilot phase — giving your clients a new layer of objective eating insight.
Join as practice partner →

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ReFraem does not share or sell your data.