Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jun 27;15(13):2901.
doi: 10.3390/nu15132901.

Design and Development of 'Diet DQ Tracker': A Smartphone Application for Augmenting Dietary Assessment

Subeg Singh Mahal  1 , Christopher Kucha  1   2 , Ebenezer M Kwofie  1 , Michael Ngadi  1
Affiliations

Design and Development of 'Diet DQ Tracker': A Smartphone Application for Augmenting Dietary Assessment

Subeg Singh Mahal et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to describe the design, development, and validation of the 'Diet DQ Tracker'. The 'Diet DQ Tracker' is the first self-administered smartphone app designed to collect dietary data for diet diversity indicators. The main objective of the app was to replace the traditional methods of dietary data collection, such as in-person or telephone 24 h recall via pen and paper questionnaire or tablets. The real-time meal recording, extensive food database, and automatic score calculations and visualizations for MDD-W, IYCF-MDD, and HDDS have the potential to overcome the drawbacks of 24 h recalls. Recall depends on respondent memory, food expertise, and time consumption and demands skilled interviewers. Further, SAIN, LIM recommendations in the app prompt users to diversify diets with healthy foods. The pilot study determined the acceptability, feasibility, and relative validity of the 'Diet DQ Tracker' with a 24 h dietary recall. The results demonstrated minimal differences in dietary scores by both methodologies. The app, being convenient, easy to use, less time-consuming, and enjoyable, was preferred by the entire study sample over 24 h recall. The app will be continually updated with foods from different cultures for validating in large-scale studies. The future studies will help to improve the subsequent versions of the app.

Keywords: diet diversity; dietary assessment; mobile phone app.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
‘Diet DQ Tracker’ architecture.
Figure 2
Figure 2
‘Diet DQ Tracker’ algorithm framework.
Figure 3
Figure 3
‘Diet DQ Tracker’ network.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Functional chart of ‘Diet DQ Tracker’.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(A,B) Screenshots of ‘Diet DQ Tracker’.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Line chart for (a) MDD-W and (b) HDDS representing DDS generated via 24 h recall and ‘Diet DQ Tracker’.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Box and whisker plot for (a) MDD-W and (b) HDDS representing DDS at group level for 24 h recall and ‘Diet DQ Tracker’.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Stacked bar graphs for (a) MDD-W and (b) HDDS representing consumption of different food groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. IFAD. UNICEF. WFP. WHO . The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World: Transforming Food Systems for Affordable Healthy Diets. FAO; Rome, Italy: 2020.
    1. Thompson F.E., Subar A.F., Loria C.M., Reedy J.L., Baranowski T. Need for technological innovation in dietary assessment. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 2010;110:48. doi: 10.1016/j.jada.2009.10.008. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Webb P., Kennedy E. Impacts of agriculture on nutrition: Nature of the evidence and research gaps. Food Nutr. Bull. 2014;35:126–132. doi: 10.1177/156482651403500113. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Verger E.O., Ballard T.J., Dop M.C., Martin-Prevel Y. Systematic review of use and interpretation of dietary diversity indicators in nutrition-sensitive agriculture literature. Glob. Food Secur. 2019;20:156–169. doi: 10.1016/j.gfs.2019.02.004. - DOI
    1. Herforth A., Ballard T.J. Nutrition indicators in agriculture projects: Current measurement, priorities, and gaps. Glob. Food Secur. 2016;10:1–10. doi: 10.1016/j.gfs.2016.07.004. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources