Infancy to Toddlerhood: Early Nutrition & Tolerance Study​

A fully digital trial to explore complementary food introduction, infant diet diversity, and parental feeding experiences. 

If you are interested, please reach out to us to learn more information:

About The INTENT Study

The study will explore how parents feed their infants, how they feel about introducing common allergens, and how combination food products can help make it easy and convenient for parents to introduce diverse foods. Parents who join the study will also receive educational content from pediatricians and dieticians through the mobile application.

The study is sponsored by Before Brands, Inc., in partnership with the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

woman in a kitchen holding her toddler with food on the counter in front
A Virtual Study

The entire study will live on the mobile application and no study-related clinic visits are required. On the mobile application, parents will be able to access all questionnaires and access exclusive education content to guide parents through first feeding in infancy to toddlerhood from leading pediatrics, dieticians, and allergists.

The study will last approximately 18 months as the child grows from infancy to toddlerhood. Many of the experts guiding the study are also food allergy parents.

Study Activities

Half of the parents will  be sent monthly supplies of a commercially available food product that contains peanuts, tree nuts, milk, fish, egg, shellfish, soy, grains, and sesame and asked to complete questionnaires directly on the mobile application. The other half of the parents will simply feed their child as they normally would and complete questionnaires directly on the mobile application.

Timeline showing the study begins when a child is 4 to 6 months of age and ends 18 months later when a child is 22 to 24 months of age

Learn More

woman holding and spoon feeding her baby on her lap

We’re planning to enroll starting in December 2020 and will continue to enroll babies until the study fills throughout 2021.

We will enroll babies who are 4-6 months of age at the time of enrollment*.

If you are interested, please reach out to us to learn more information.

*Other eligibility participation requirements will apply and will be available on the mobile application.

Study Partners

Our Team

Before Brands, Inc. and Duke Clinical Research Institute have teamed up with experts around the country to design and implement a fully digital pediatric nutrition study.

The Executive Advisory Committee brings together leading experts in their fields, including pediatric allergy, epidemiology, clinical research, digital health design, and pediatric nutrition. The committee will provide scientific guidance on the study design, execution, analysis, and digital design of the INTENT Study.

Principal Investigators

David Jeong, MD

David Jeong, MD

Principal Investigator
Pediatrician and Allergist Section Head, Virginia Mason Medical Center and Benaroya Research Institute

Food Allergy Dad

Christoph Hornik, MD, PhD, MPH

Christoph Hornik, MD, PhD​

Duke Clinical Research Institute Principal Investigator
Assoc. Professor, Duke University
Chief, Division of Quantitative Sciences

Executive Advisory Committee

Drew Bird, MD

Drew Bird, MD

Director of the Food and Allergy Center at Children's Medical Center

Associate Professor, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH

Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH​

Director, Institute for Public Health and Medicine (IPHAM) - Center for Food Allergy & Asthma

Professor, Northwestern University School of Medicine

Food Allergy Mom

Suannah Fox

Susannah Fox

Healthcare and information technology researcher

Chief Technology Officer, US Department of Health and Human Services (2015-17)

Food Allergy Mom

Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD

Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD

SpoonfulOne Co-Founder

Director, Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University

Endowed Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine

Edwin Kim, MD, MS

Edwin Kim, MD, MS

Study Consultant for DCRI

Director, UNC Food Allergy Initiative

Associate Professor, UNC

Food Allergy Dad​

Carina Venter, PhD, RD

Carina Venter, PhD, RD

Chair, International Network of Dietitians and Nutritionists in Allergy

Associate Professor of Pediatric Allergy & Immunology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine

Dave Stukus, MD

Dave Stukus, MD

Director, Food Allergy Treatment Center at Nationwide Children's Hospital

Associate Professor, Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Before Brands Team

Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MPE

Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE

Chief Medical Officer
Pediatrician

ALEX WEI, PHARMD

Alex Wei, PharmD

Medical Director

Jimmy Xu, PharmD

Jimmy Xu, PharmD

Manager, Medical and Digital Health

The Infancy to Toddlerhood Early Nutrition & Tolerance Study

Learn More

The trial is expected to begin enrollment  in December 2020 and will continue to enroll babies until the study fills throughout 2021.

We will enroll babies who are 4-6 months of age at the time of enrollment*.

If you are interested, please reach out to us to learn more information.

*Other eligibility participation requirements will apply and will be available on the mobile application.