New Software for Gluten-Free Diet Evaluation and Nutritional Education

Abstract

Following a gluten-free diet (GFD) is the only treatment for celiac disease. This diet must ensure the absence of gluten but also needs to be nutritionally balanced. Dietitians working in this field cannot properly evaluate energy and nutrient intake of celiac people because dietary programs available on the market do not contain the nutritional composition of gluten-free products (GFP). Here we present a new GFD evaluation software that contains more than 700 gluten-free rendered foodstuffs and their macronutrient composition. Apart from diet evaluation and design, the software represents a tool for nutritional education as well, since it shows diet appropriacy and indicates how to promote balanced self-care. Moreover, anthropometric and biochemical data or symptoms presence and diet adherence can be recorded and evaluated. This open free software, can be downloaded in its app format for mobiles and tablets. Software evaluation indicated its correct functionality and the importance of assessing a GFD with GFP instead of with their gluten-containing analogues. Thus, this software represents an essential e-Health tool, not only for proper GFD evaluation, but also for improving life quality of celiac and gluten sensitive people.

FODMAP Intake in Spanish Population: Open Approach for Risk Assessment

“…With the aim of validating the results obtained, we compared our data for adult population with those of Nybacka et al, the most similar research in terms of sample size, total FODMAP classification, or patient's age [23]. The similarity between Spanish and Swedish FODMAP intake, 21.1 vs. 20.7 g/day, confirmed our approach using national food consumption surveys and placed value on our open software for calculation [19].…”

“…In view of the above, this work aims to fill the gap and calculate the total FODMAP intake for Spanish underage population, with the aid of a specific software containing information about FODMAP content of foods [19]. The total FODMAP consumption of Spanish children aged between 3 and 9 years old was 33.4 g/day, while teenagers between 10 and 17 years old consumed 18% fewer FODMAPS daily.…”

“…Additionally, the software integrates a wide range of fructan content in food, not usually present in food composition databases. In fact, due to the variability in the FODMAP content of processed foodstuff, and considering that fructans are the most frequent FODMAP found in wheat (one staple food) [44], the total fructan content of eighty-five cereal based processed foods was determined and permanently integrated in the open software for free use [19].…”

“…The database generated in the open access software with national consumption food surveys for Spanish children, adolescents and adults could assess the daily intake of fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, riboflavin, thiamin, calcium, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus and iron [ 15 , 16 , 19 ]. In order to evaluate the relevance of the top ten foods representing the higher intake source of lactose, excess fructose and total fructan to previous nutrients’ intake, these were subtracted from the previous database.…”

“…Moreover, a top ten of those foods was created, representing the higher intake sources of lactose, excess fructose and total fructan in Spanish diet of each cohort. For this procedure, an open free software designed by the GLUTEN3S research team was used (GlutenFreeDiet) [19]. The software was linked to the Spanish food-composition database (BEDCA) integrated in the European Food Information Resource, and to the database with the FODMAP content, as previously detailed.…”