Lecture 17 - Diet Apps Flashcards
what are diet apps
smartphone or online applications that allow users to enter their food intake and match foods to large nutrient databases
my fitness pal has data for how many nutrients
15 nutrients
how many foods in the nutrient database of my fitness pal
> 19 million foods
what are the issues with some foods in my fitness pal
they are not complete, some foods are missing micronutrients so will underestimate your intake for these
how many users are there of cronometer
> 10 million
what is different about every food in cronometer compared to my fitness pal
every user entered food is reviewed
easy diet diary uses what food data
Australian food data
what are the advantages to diet apps
- food is entered at the time it is consumed
- you need little training
- accessible with the right resources
- save time and money as food is not manually coded
- allow individuals to self monitor their diet
- discrete
- more socially acceptable
what are the disadvantages to diet apps (10)
- large variations in relative validity
- users enter foods
- limited food descriptions
- not all foods in nutrient database
- nutrient data missing
- nutrient database not from NZ
- limited capacity to add recipes - no nutrient retention factors
- users may have limited knowledge of food composition and data entry
- information may be difficult to interpret
- assumes you follow regular dietary patterns
what must be on the NIP panel in NZ
- energy
- carbohydrates
- sugar
- fat
- saturated fat
- protein
- sodium
in the USA, what is also on the NIP
%DV
what are the issues with databases not being from NZ
every country has differences in :
- animal husbandry
- climate
- fortification programmes
- soils
- tastes and preferences
- dominant cultivars
- common terms (mince vs ground)
what is the issue with goal intakes on diet apps
everyones energy requirements are different = EER set at average requirement
the chance of your ‘goal’ energy intake being right for you is low
what are other disadvantages to diet apps
- units or portion size are often not familiar
- changes are difficult to make
- makes assumptions about how recipes are prepared
- not everyone has access to a computer or smart phone
self monitoring dietary intake is strongly correlated with
weight loss
- can facilitate behaviour change
