Better food choices among users of the Digital Food Guide: a report from Brazil

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29397/reciis.v12i3.1308

Keywords:

Health promotion, Disease prevention, Medical technology, Public health, Feeding behavior, Food, Novel technology, Smart phone, Dietary assessment, Mobile food record.

Abstract

Easy access to information provides an opportunity to promote healthy food choices. This study presents the Digital Food Guide (DFG), an application for smartphones, and assesses its ability to promote healthy food choices. Users record their food intake and receive data regarding food groups and Diet Quality Index, a score associated with the DFG. This study analyzed the reported food intake and body weight of 442 users of both genders aged 19 to 50 years. After using the app, approximately one-third of the participants improved their dietary pattern and 60% lost weight (p < 0.01). The percentage of individuals consuming a poor-quality diet decreased by 8.5%, individuals consuming an intermediate-quality diet increased by 6.8% and individuals consuming a high-quality diet increased by 1.6% (p = 0.01). Information technologies may be additional resources by supporting nutritional education, thus helping individuals to eat consciously with positive health outcomes.

Author Biographies

Simone Caivano, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Programa Interdisciplinar em Ciências da Saúde. Santos, SP

Doutorado em Interdisciplinar em Ciências da Saúde pela Universidade Federal de São Paulo.

Semíramis Martins Álvares Domene, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Departamento de Políticas Públicas e Saúde Coletiva. Santos, SP

Doutorado em Ciência da Nutrição pela Universidade Estadual de Campinas.

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Published

2018-09-25

How to Cite

Caivano, S., & Domene, S. M. Álvares. (2018). Better food choices among users of the Digital Food Guide: a report from Brazil. Revista Eletrônica De Comunicação, Informação & Inovação Em Saúde, 12(3). https://doi.org/10.29397/reciis.v12i3.1308

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Section

Original articles