Potential of existing online 24-h dietary recall tools for national dietary surveys

Abstract

Objective: To describe existing online 24-hour dietary recall (24hDR) tools in terms of functionalities and ability to tackle challenges encountered during national dietary surveys, such as maximizing response rates and collecting high-quality data from a representative sample of the population, while minimizing the cost and response burden. Design: A search (from 2000 to 2019) was conducted in peer-reviewed and grey literature. For each tool, information on functionalities, validation and user usability studies, and potential adaptability for integration into a new context was collected. Setting: Not country-specific Participants: General population Results: Eighteen online 24hDR tools were identified. Most were developed in Europe, for children ≥10 years old and/or for adults. Eight followed the five multiple-pass steps, but used various methodologies and features. Almost all tools (except three) validated their nutrient intake estimates, but with high heterogeneity in methodologies. User usability was not always assessed, and rarely by applying real-time methods. For researchers, eight tools developed a web platform to manage the survey and five appeared to be easily adaptable to a new context. Conclusions: Among the eighteen online 24hDR tools identified, the best candidates to be used in national dietary surveys should be those that were validated for their intake estimates, had confirmed user and researcher usability, and seemed sufficiently flexible to be adapted to new contexts. Regardless of the tool, adaptation to another context will still require time and funding, and this is probably the most challenging step.

Data Resource Profile: United Kingdom National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme (2008–19)

“…Similar to the picture seen in other national surveys, 51 NDNS RP response rates have declined in recent years. An internal review in 2018 found no substantive evidence linking the decrease in response rates to a possible increase in bias of NDNS RP estimates.…”

A Preliminary Study on a Form of the 24-h Recall That Balances Survey Cost and Accuracy, Based on the NCI Method

“…A previous study showed that replication rates of a second 24HR greater than 40% did not lead to significant impairment in precision, and that impairment was reduced when the sample was increased, suggesting that choosing an appropriate replication rate to estimate dietary intake may help reduce costs [35]. There are many studies demonstrating the feasibility of online 24-h reviews, and their use can also reduce survey costs and subject burden [36,37]. The vehicles for implementing the 24HR method are diverse and can be used flexibly in actual investigations.…”

Comparing the Usability of the Web-Based 24-h Dietary Recall R24W and ASA24-Canada-2018 among French-Speaking Adults from Québec

“…Usability was assessed using the SUS administered after experiencing each recall tools. The SUS is one of the most common questionnaires used to evaluate a variety of softwares including in the field of nutrition [ 7 , 15 ]. The SUS score of the R24W was 23 points higher than the SUS score of the ASA24-Canada-2018.…”

“…This suggests that broadening the food database would likely increase usability for both the R24W and the ASA24-Canada-2018. According to a recent literature review, the ability to easily identify the correct food is one of the most common issues raised in web-based 24-h recall tools usability studies [ 7 ]. In the next few years, the integration of more branded products into these tools should be considered to facilitate the identification of the exact food consumed while providing many descriptors (e.g., country of origin and presence of nutrition or health claim) with less data management.…”

“…However, traditional 24-h dietary recalls are expensive as they rely on trained interviewers for data collection and coding. For those reasons, researchers have developed automated, self-administered, web-based dietary recall tools that are increasingly available for nutrition research, particularly for epidemiological studies and national surveys [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”