title: Feasibility and validity of mobile phones to assess dietary intake.
abstract: Current limitations of conventional dietary assessment methods restrict the establishment of diet-disease relationships and efficacy of dietary interventions. Technology, in particular the use of mobile phones, may help resolve methodologic limitations, in turn improving the validity of dietary assessment and research and associated findings. This review aims to evaluate the validity, feasibility, and acceptability of dietary assessment methods that have been deployed on mobile phone platforms. In August 2013, electronic databases for health sciences were searched for English, peer-reviewed, full-text articles, published from January 1, 2001 onward; and accompanied by a hand search of available relevant publications from universities and government bodies. Studies were not limited by design, length, setting, or population group. Of 194 articles, 12 met eligibility criteria: mobile phone as the dietary recording platform and validation of energy and/or macronutrient intake against another dietary or biological reference method. Four dietary recoding methods had been validated on mobile phone platforms: electronic food diary, food photograph-assisted self-administered, 24 h recall, food photograph analysis by trained dietitians, and automated food photograph analysis. All mobile phone dietary assessment methods showed similar, but not superior, validity or reliability when compared with conventional methods. Participants' satisfaction and preferences for mobile phone dietary assessment methods were higher than those for conventional methods, indicating the need for further research. Validity testing in larger and more diverse populations, over longer durations is required to evaluate the efficacy of these methods in dietary research.
authors: Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, School of Molecular Bioscience, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia.
authors: Darren B
authors: DB
authors: Sharp
authors: Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, School of Molecular Bioscience, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia. Electronic address: Margaret.allmanfarinelli@sydney.edu.au.
authors: Margaret
authors: M
authors: Allman-Farinelli
mesh_terms: D040421:Cell Phone; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D004032:Diet; D015930:Diet Records; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006801:Humans; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
keywords: Dietary assessment; Food diary; Food photograph; Reliability; Smartphone