Development and validation of a digitalised information system for the comprehensive assessment of dietary habits in population groups (integrALIMENTA)

Abstract

The inherent subjectivity in the self-administered instruments used for dietary adherence/compliance assessment, such as food frequency questionnaires, multiple-day food records, and 24-h dietary recall, are associated with bias and errors into data collection, impacting study outcomes. Employing objective measurement approaches (e.g., biomarkers and metabolic signatures) and robust research design (controlling for regression to the mean) concurrently with self-administered instruments may significantly improve data quality and validate study outcomes. Digitalized systems are based on the need to implement and integrate current methodologies related to the evaluation of the population's dietary habits through easy-to-use tools that allow the accurate measurement of food intake. A Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) is a limited checklist of foods and beverages with a frequency response section for subjects to report how often each item was consumed over a specified period of time. Semi-quantitative FFQs collect portion size information as standardized portions or as a choice of portion sizes.

[Objectives]: The project includes different objectives (i) implementation and generation of digitised tools and construction of databases that allow individual monitoring of the dietary pattern and nutritional profile of each individual, including image recognition algorithms for estimating the volume of wine and the prospection of new models for estimating the weight of the ration of other foods of interest (fruits and red meat); (ii) integration of the tools for the generation of the interoperable modular information system and its validation in different population groups and age groups, including the evaluation of its usefulness, transfer and socio-economic impact; (iii) to transfer to end users, researchers and health professionals, as well as to companies and consumers in general, an innovative product that generates impact on the productive sector and society, helping to improve the diets of the population, as well as the accurate assessment of dietary patterns.

[Scientific and Social impact]: The project proposes to advance in the degree of technological maturity of the development and validation of an information system with a modular structure and in App mobile application format for the collection of FFQ data by the user, their storage and processing, to comprehensively assess the dietary pattern and nutritional profile of a given population, and to allow its widespread use in different areas, ranging from the scientific and clinical field to the consumer field.