Abstract
BackgroundA key challenge in human nutrition is the assessment of usual food intake. This is of particular interest given recent proposals of eHealth personalized interventions. The adoption of mobile phones has created an opportunity for assessing and improving nutrient intake as they can be used for digitalizing dietary assessments and providing feedback. In the last few years, hundreds of nutrition-related mobile apps have been launched and installed by millions of users.ObjectiveThis study aims to analyze the main features of the most popular nutrition apps and to compare their strategies and technologies for dietary assessment and user feedback.MethodsApps were selected from the two largest online stores of the most popular mobile operating systems—the Google Play Store for Android and the iTunes App Store for iOS—based on popularity as measured by the number of installs and reviews. The keywords used in the search were as follows: calorie(s), diet, diet tracker, dietician, dietitian, eating, fit, fitness, food, food diary, food tracker, health, lose weight, nutrition, nutritionist, weight, weight loss, weight management, weight watcher, and ww calculator. The inclusion criteria were as follows: English language, minimum number of installs (1 million for Google Play Store) or reviews (7500 for iTunes App Store), relation to nutrition (ie, diet monitoring or recommendation), and independence from any device (eg, wearable) or subscription.ResultsA total of 13 apps were classified as popular for inclusion in the analysis. Nine apps offered prospective recording of food intake using a food diary feature. Food selection was available via text search or barcode scanner technologies. Portion size selection was only textual (ie, without images or icons). All nine of these apps were also capable of collecting physical activity (PA) information using self-report, the global positioning system (GPS), or wearable integrations. Their outputs focused predominantly on energy balance between dietary intake and PA. None of these nine apps offered features directly related to diet plans and motivational coaching. In contrast, the remaining four of the 13 apps focused on these opportunities, but without food diaries. One app—FatSecret—also had an innovative feature for connecting users with health professionals, and another—S Health—provided a nutrient balance score.ConclusionsThe high number of installs indicates that there is a clear interest and opportunity for diet monitoring and recommendation using mobile apps. All the apps collecting dietary intake used the same nutrition assessment method (ie, food diary record) and technologies for data input (ie, text search and barcode scanner). Emerging technologies, such as image recognition, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence, were not identified. None of the apps had a decision engine capable of providing personalized diet advice.
Highlights
Introduction viiIntroduction viiiThe Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Diseases is the first detailed description of the global burden of Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), their risk factors and determinants; it highlights the immediate opportunities for tackling the epidemic in all settings through a broad focus on NCD surveillance, population-based prevention, strengthening health care and the capacities of countries to respond to the epidemic
A strategic objective in the fight against the NCD epidemic must be to ensure early detection and care using cost-effective and sustainable health-care interventions: High-risk individuals and those with established cardiovascular disease can be treated with regimens of low-cost generic medicines that significantly reduce the likelihood of death or vascular events
NCDs’ negative impact on national economies means fewer jobs and fewer people escaping poverty. It is important for achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2, since costs for NCD health care, medicines, tobacco and alcohol consumption displace household resources that otherwise might be available for education
Summary
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading causes of death globally, killing more people each year than all other causes combined. Available data demonstrate that nearly 80% of NCD deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries Despite their rapid growth and inequitable distribution, much of the human and social impact caused each year by NCD-related deaths could be averted through well-understood, cost-effective and feasible interventions. The greatest effects of these risk factors fall increasingly on low- and middle-income countries, and on poorer people within all countries, mirroring the underlying socioeconomic determinants Among these populations, a vicious cycle may ensue: poverty exposes people to behavioural risk factors for NCDs and, in turn, the resulting NCDs may become an important driver to the downward spiral that leads families towards poverty. Much has been learnt about the causes, prevention and treatment of NCDs over the past three decades, as important achievements have been made in reducing mortality in many highincome countries; the evidence base for action is steadily mounting and global attention to the NCD epidemic is intensifying
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