RO COLLABORATES WITH LEADING OBESITY RESEARCHERS TO DEBUT NEW, VALIDATED SCALE TO MEASURE 'FOOD NOISE'

Questionnaire identifies whether a respondent experiences food noise and the magnitude of it

Measure is designed to support care delivery, research, and clinical trials

NEW YORK, Oct. 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Ro, the leading direct-to-patient healthcare company, today announced it has partnered with leading obesity researchers to launch a new scale to measure 'food noise' – the phenomenon of persistent thoughts about food that are perceived as unwanted and unpleasant.

The 'Ro Allison Indiana Dhurandhar Food Noise' (RAID-FN) Inventory is a brief, easy-to-use questionnaire that determines whether respondents experience food noise as well as how often those thoughts occur and how disruptive or upsetting they are. By translating a personal, often hard-to-describe experience into a clear, clinically validated score, the RAID-FN scale helps patients, providers, and researchers better understand this phenomenon.

"Patients share with us every day that persistent food noise makes it harder for them to lose weight, to reach their health goals, and often interferes in living their day-to-day lives to the fullest. Despite that, there's been a lack of clinical or scientific legitimization of their experiences," said Zach Reitano, CEO and Co-Founder of Ro. "With the RAID-FN scale, our patients and millions of others can finally better understand the food noise they experience, work with providers to manage it, and benefit from clinical research into its effects as well as potential treatments."

The RAID-FN scale is the result of a years-long collaboration, organized by Ro, which brought together a multidisciplinary group of experts spanning nutrition to psychology and obesity medicine to psychometrics. The group, first, developed a consensus definition of food noise and, second, a scale designed to measure it. Their effort took a uniquely wide lens approach to identifying the critical facets of food noise, ultimately, validating a three factor comprehensive measure that not only distinguishes preoccupation with food, but also its persistence and associated dysphoria (i.e., the extent to which it is harmful to someone's perception of themself).

The group's work is detailed in two peer-reviewed articles, one published in Nutrition & Diabetes, lays out the scientific basis for the definition as well as the scale. The second, published in Appetite, is a multi-phase validation study that robustly tested the RAID-FN scale and showed the measure's strong statistical alignment with known constructs like anxiety, food cue reactivity, and food cravings, as well as patients' real world experiences. Together, these articles assert the RAID-FN scale as a valuable tool for both clinical and research uses.

"Food noise has become an important topic in the field of obesity medicine and metabolic disease research, yet one without the necessary rigor to produce reliable data and insights for patients, clinicians, or researchers. By working with Ro to develop the RAID-FN scale, we will help to unlock meaningful advancements in the scientific understanding of food noise and, hopefully, accelerate the discovery of effective interventions," said David B. Allison, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics and Endowed Chair and Director of USDA-ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Allison helped to develop the RAID-FN Inventory and serves as an independent obesity advisor to Ro.

The RAID-FN scale is now available in both English and Spanish for providers to use in their patient care, researchers to use in their academic or commercial investigations, or for inclusion in clinical trials. Ro already uses the scale to measure food noise among patients seeking obesity treatment through its nationwide telehealth platform. The company will present two abstracts with this data at ObesityWeek® 2025, including research on how food noise affects quality of life and which populations it most affects. Ro will continue to present research, including large samples of tens of thousands of patients, at research conferences throughout the next year.

Additionally, the RAID-FN scale is being used in a clinical trial led by Ariana M. Chao, PhD, Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, measuring the efficacy and safety of tirzepatide versus placebo or lisdexamfetamine dimesylate for binge-eating disorder. The scale is also set for inclusion as an endpoint in several other randomized controlled trials evaluating the efficacy of pharmacological and behavioral weight loss interventions.

Researchers and organizations interested in licensing the use of the Ro Allison Indiana Dhurandhar Food Noise (RAID-FN) Inventory in their initiatives can contact Ro here: https://ro.co/weight-loss/raid-fn/

About Ro
Ro  is a direct-to-patient healthcare company with a mission of helping patients achieve their health goals by delivering the easiest, most effective care possible. Ro is the only company to offer nationwide telehealth, labs, and pharmacy services. This is enabled by Ro's vertically integrated platform that helps patients achieve their goals through a convenient, end-to-end healthcare experience spanning from diagnosis, to delivery of medication, to ongoing care. Since 2017, Ro has helped millions of patients in nearly every single county in the United States, including 99% of primary care deserts. Visit Ro.co for more information.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Ro