Use of technology in children’s dietary assessment

Abstract

Background: Information on dietary intake provides some of the most valuable insights for mounting intervention programmes for the prevention of chronic diseases. With the growing concern about adolescent overweight, the need to accurately measure diet becomes imperative. Assessment among adolescents is problematic as this group has irregular eating patterns and they have less enthusiasm for recording food intake. Subjects/Methods: We used qualitative and quantitative techniques among adolescents to assess their preferences for dietary assessment methods. Results: Dietary assessment methods using technology, for example, a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a disposable camera, were preferred over the pen and paper food record. Conclusions: There was a strong preference for using methods that incorporate technology such as capturing images of food. This suggests that for adolescents, dietary methods that incorporate technology may improve cooperation and accuracy. Current computing technology includes higher resolution images, improved memory capacity and faster processors that allow small mobile devices to process information not previously possible. Our goal is to develop, implement and evaluate a mobile device (for example, PDA, mobile phone) food record that will translate to an accurate account of daily food and nutrient intake among adolescents. This mobile computing device will include digital images, a nutrient database and image analysis for identification and quantification of food consumption. Mobile computing devices provide a unique vehicle for collecting dietary information that reduces the burden on record keepers. Images of food can be marked with a variety of input methods that link the item for image processing and analysis to estimate the amount of food. Images before and after the foods are eaten can estimate the amount of food consumed. The initial stages and potential of this project will be described.

Measuring diet in the 21st century: use of new technologies

“…Depending on the system the tools require more or less input from the user. On the whole, users prefer the new technology approach to the traditional interviewer or paper-based systems (6,(13)(14)(15)(16) . However, this may depend on technology readiness and experience with online systems (1,16) .…”

A comparison of food portion size estimation by older adults, young adults and nutritionists

“…The use of computerised image analysis to determine the portion size of food from photographs of meals has also been investigated (12)(13)(14). Image analysis offers the potential of automating food recognition alongside volume estimation, which could improve the accuracy of portion size assessment and remove the burden of portion size assessment from the participant.…”

Mobile apps for pediatric obesity prevention and treatment, healthy eating, and physical activity promotion: just fun and games?

“…Among actions recommended by pediatric obesity experts are promotion of healthy eating (HE) and physical activity (PA) [5,6] as well including the whole family in treatment [7]. Mobile applications (apps) are an engaging way to involve children in health behavior changes, capitalizing on portability and affordability of delivering health information via mobile devices and opportunity to use gaming to make health information entertaining [8,9]. While most children do not own their own smartphone, parents are heavy app users, with 57 % of app-using parents reporting that they have downloaded apps for their children to use [10].…”