Traditional methodsv.new technologies – dilemmas for dietary assessment in large-scale nutrition surveys and studies: a report following an international panel discussion at the 9th International Conference on Diet and Activity Methods (ICDAM9), Brisbane, 3 September 2015

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to summarise current and future applications of dietary assessment technologies in nutrition surveys in developed countries. It includes the discussion of key points and highlights of subsequent developments from a panel discussion to address strengths and weaknesses of traditional dietary assessment methods (food records, FFQ, 24 h recalls, diet history with interviewer-assisted data collection) v. new technology-based dietary assessment methods (web-based and mobile device applications). The panel discussion ‘Traditional methods v. new technologies: dilemmas for dietary assessment in population surveys’, was held at the 9th International Conference on Diet and Activity Methods (ICDAM9), Brisbane, September 2015. Despite respondent and researcher burden, traditional methods have been most commonly used in nutrition surveys. However, dietary assessment technologies offer potential advantages including faster data processing and better data quality. This is a fast-moving field and there is evidence of increasing demand for the use of new technologies amongst the general public and researchers. There is a need for research and investment to support efforts being made to facilitate the inclusion of new technologies for rapid, accurate and representative data.

Inova��o em pesquisa na enfermagem psiqui�trica: coleta de dados informatizada

“…Maior agilidade no processamento dos dados e aumento da qualidade dos dados obtidos também foram identificados em um estudo, no qual são comparados métodos tradicionais e novas tecnologias de coleta de dados em pesquisa sobre hábitos alimentares (11) .…”

Current Developments in Digital Quantitative Volume Estimation for the Optimisation of Dietary Assessment

“…Poor literacy and education levels can compound a lack of clarity and attention to portion sizes and ingredients used, in turn affecting the accuracy of the dietary records [24,27,32,[51][52][53]. Despite the fact that most prospective studies begin with a degree of training for respondents, the effectiveness and receptiveness of the training is dependent on the participants' abilities to grasp and execute these concepts [24,32,51,52]. This is further amplified by the complexity of Southeast Asian diets, and the reliance on food consumed outside the home can make it difficult for individuals to be aware of all the ingredients in the food [32,44].…”

“…Significant errors can also occur at the point of coding, especially in the case of open-ended diet records [33,[51][52][53][54][55]. These errors include: misinterpretation of portion sizes; unclear or inconsistent food names, particularly in the case of ethnic foods; or lack of detail with regards to food preparation methods and specific ingredients [54].…”

“…These healthcare apps may require high initial costs to develop, but can greatly reduce the effort and uncertainty required for the collection and handling of data. This alleviates some of the burden of both respondents and researchers alike and improves the feasibility of dietary records in larger populations [24,51,52,61].…”

“…Using digital solutions also reduces the burden placed on respondents and healthcare professionals [53,60,67,73]. Many studies have found that users prefer the use of digital dietary recording over traditional paper methods for ergonomic and practical reasons [27,28,37,38,52,58,60,62,67,71,72,74]. Smart devices are highly integrated into modern lifestyles and are less intrusive to daily routines as users do not need to carry around an additional item such as a journal to record their diets with.…”