Background and aims: There is no prior research on the usefulness that popular nutrition-related mobile applications would have in assessing fatty acids intake. In this study, we examine these applications through their utilization in the assessment of consumption of saturated (SFAs) and polyunsaturated (PUFAs) fatty acids against the Polish reference method (RM, Dieta 6.0). This report does also include the information about monounsaturated fatty acids and cholesterol intake.
Methods and results: SFAs and PUFAs intake was assessed using two-day dietary recalls obtained from 120 individuals by 3 selected mobile applications (App1 = Yazio, App2 = MyFitnessPal, App3 = Fitatu) and compared with RM. Despite strong (SFAs by App1 and App3) and moderate (SFAs by App2 and PUFAs by App1, App2, App3) correlations with RM, Bland-Altman analyses showed relevant biases and wide range between limits of agreement. Considering SFAs and MUFAs intake, App1 had the best agreement. App1 had high sensitivity (94.6%) in recognition of subjects with SFAs intake >10% with moderate specificity (67.9%), while App2 had poor sensitivity (27.2%) and high specificity (100%). App3 showed moderate sensitivity and specificity (77.2% and 75%, respectively).
Conclusions: Mobile applications are not accurate tools in SFAs and PUFAs assessment when compared to the RM. Nonetheless, their ability to recognize SFAs intake >10% energy intake may suggest that further development of mobile applications could potentially become an attractive tool in clinical practice.
Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; Dietary assessment; Dietary intake; Fatty acids intake; Mobile applications.
Copyright © 2022 The Italian Diabetes Society, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.