Comparison of Energy and Macronutrients Between a Mobile Application and a Conventional Dietary Assessment Method in Korea

Abstract

Background: The use of mobile apps for dietary evaluation avoids some of the disadvantages of costly and time-consuming traditional diet assessment. However, few studies have compared dietary intake data in smartphone apps with a conventional diet assessment.

Objective: This study aimed to compare the dietary data collected on energy and macronutrients (proteins, fats, and carbohydrates) consumed for 3 nonconsecutive days using both a mobile application (Noom) and a conventional dietary assessment tool (CAN Pro).

Design: This was a cross-sectional study.

Participants/setting: A total of 119 healthy adults (68 males and 51 females) aged 19 to 65 years were recruited from the National Cancer Center in Korea between May and September 2019.

Main outcome measures: The mean daily energy and macronutrient intake data were obtained for the dietary intakes consumed for 3 nonconsecutive days using Noom and CAN Pro.

Statistical analysis performed: The estimates of energy and macronutrient intake between the two tools were compared using correlation coefficients and cross-classification.

Results: Although mean daily fat intake and percent total energy from carbohydrate estimated by Noom were comparable with values provided by CAN Pro, mean daily estimated energy intake (kcal), protein (g, percent total energy), and carbohydrate (g) were significantly higher with Noom than with CAN Pro. The correlation coefficients ranged from 0.79 to 0.99 for crude intake and from 0.77 to 0.88 for energy-adjusted values of intake after adjustment for sex and age. The percentages of participants classified into quartiles of "exact agreement and plus adjacent" varied between 95% and 99% for crude intake and between 93% and 97% for energy-adjusted values of intake.

Conclusions: The findings indicate that Noom may be useful for monitoring the dietary intake of energy and macronutrients and reducing workload compared with a traditional dietary assessment in Korea. However, further research is needed to assess the validity and usability of Noom for estimating intake of micronutrients and other dietary components.

Keywords: Database; Food records; Mobile application; Mobile health; Smartphone application.