Although there are various methods for evaluating food intake, accurate measurement is difficult.Meal recording apps are an attractive method with many users due to the simplicity of their functions, but their accuracy is unknown.At the Fujita Health University Hospital International Medical Center, a food intake frequency survey and a 3-day recording paper method are used for nutritional evaluation in detailed medical examinations, but this requires a lot of labor and burden on patients.Therefore, in order to introduce a meal record application, we decided to examine its accuracy.

　In the study, we prepared two meals with known amounts of energy and three macronutrients.One is cup ramen + vegetable juice (convenience store food), which is assumed to be a meal that young people buy at a convenience store for lunch, and the other is a regular meal provided at a hospital (hospital food).For these meals, 3 participants were measured for 2 days (a total of 2 times) using two types of meal recording apps (Asuken and Caromill), which have a high share in Japan.

　As a result, for convenience store meals, the two meal recording apps were able to easily and accurately evaluate nutritional value, regardless of individual or age, even if they were used for the first time.On the other hand, the hospital diet overestimated the nutritional value, including the amount of energy.Among the nutrients, it was difficult to evaluate salt and lipid content.

　It was found that the app overestimates energy and nutrients because the hospital diet is a meal menu that has been devised for patients, such as reducing salt and fat.Since it is difficult to assess the content of lipids, salt, and sugar visually, we would like to develop a nutrition assessment method that combines a meal recording app with biomarkers such as blood and urine.

Paper information:[Nutrients]Nutritional Assessment of Hospital Meals by Food-Recording Applications