title: Validation of a Tablet Application for Assessing Dietary Intakes Compared with the Measured Food Intake/Food Waste Method in Military Personnel Consuming Field Rations.
abstract: The collection of accurate dietary intakes using traditional dietary assessment methods (e.g., food records) from military personnel is challenging due to the demanding physiological and psychological conditions of training or operations. In addition, these methods are burdensome, time consuming, and prone to measurement errors. Adopting smart-phone/tablet technology could overcome some of these barriers. The objective was to assess the validity of a tablet app, modified to contain detailed nutritional composition data, in comparison to a measured food intake/waste method. A sample of Canadian Armed Forces personnel, randomized to either a tablet app (n= 9) or a weighed food record (wFR) (n= 9), recorded the consumption of standard military rations for a total of 8 days. Compared to the gold standard measured food intake/waste method, the difference in mean energy intake was small (-73 kcal/day for tablet app and -108 kcal/day for wFR) (p> 0.05). Repeated Measures Bland-Altman plots indicated good agreement for both methods (tablet app and wFR) with the measured food intake/waste method. These findings demonstrate that the tablet app, with added nutritional composition data, is comparable to the traditional dietary assessment method (wFR) and performs satisfactorily in relation to the measured food intake/waste method to assess energy, macronutrient, and selected micronutrient intakes in a sample of military personnel.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3E2, Canada. mavz.ahmed@mail.utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Mavra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 2W6, Canada. iva.mandic@mail.utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Iva
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mandic
authors.affiliation: Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 3M2, Canada. wendy.lou@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.affiliation: Defence Research and Development Canada-Toronto Research Centre, Toronto, ON M3K 2C9, Canada. len.goodman@drdc-rddc.gc.ca.
authors.forename: Len
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 2W6, Canada. ira.jacobs@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Ira
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3E2, Canada. mary.labbe@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Mary R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: L'Abbé
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002170:Canada; D003404:Creatinine / Q000652:urine; D004032:Diet; D015930:Diet Records; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018977:Micronutrients / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008875:Middle Aged; D008889:Military Personnel; D063731:Mobile Applications; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004041:Dietary Fats; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D018977:Micronutrients; D003404:Creatinine
keywords: dietary assessment; smartphone; technology; validation