My Meal Mate: Smartphone Analysis

In recent years, researchers have searched for ways to improve on dietary assessment methods. One tool that is widely available for use is smartphone applications. My meal mate is a smartphone application designed to monitor dietary intake. It was developed as a weight loss guide. However, the capacity for My Meal Mate a potential dietary assessment tool was not yet established. The paper by Carter et al. examines My Meal Mate in this capacity, and attempts to validate the tools use as a means for dietary assessment. Fifty volunteers were invited to record seven days worth of intake on My Meal Mate. During the seven day period, volunteers were randomly telephoned and asked to complete a 24 hour recall. Total energy and macronutrient intake
As in food diaries, the user documents as they consume. Because it is completed in real time, this tool should be cognitively simple. It’s progressive completion limits recall error. The idea is that users register foods from a given meal, directly after having eaten them. The application prompts users to indicate portion sizes, and any additional details they can provide. This can includes fat content, brand name, and even preparation details. However, food diaries are typically open-ended questionnaires, whereby, people are not limited by a food choice restrictions. My Meal Mate, and other similar smartphone applications have a finite number of food items available in their database. The intent of limiting the foods available for entry is to decrease the expense and difficulty associated with coding food items. Another reason this dietary tool was structured this way is for ease of use. Logically, it does not seem difficult to record everything you eat on a piece of paper. Practically, however, we know this is not true. Writing out dietary intake can be a tedious task. For food records to work as intended, participants are required to record as they go. This requires notetaking ability twenty-four hours a day. It may, not be feasible to carry pen and paper with you everywhere you go. In today’s society, people rarely go anywhere without their cell phones.
No statistically significantly difference in mean energy intake was detected between the first 24-hour recall and the equivalent day in My Meal Mate (an insignificantly different difference of 68 kJ was observed). No statistically significant differences in macronutrients were noted for first day’s measurements. A statistically significant energy intake difference of 441 kJ was noted between the second 24-hour recall and its corresponding day in My Meal Mate. A statistically significant difference in dietary fat intake was also detected among the second day’s measurements. Interestingly, the measurements of other macronutrients did not display a similar trend: no statistically significant differences existed among protein or carbohydrates. No statistically significant difference in energy or macronutrients existed when comparing the average of the two 24-hour recalls against the average quantity of the two corresponding days in My Meal Mate. Similarly, no significant differences existed when comparing the average of two 24-hour recalls against the average of the entire 7 day diary recording in My Meal Mate. Correlations between the two methods were remarkably high. The correlation for the first 24-hour recall was calculated at .77. For the second 24-hour recall, the correlation coefficient was found to be .85. A correlation coefficient of .85 was also found when comparing the average of the two 24-hour recalls and