This method provides an innovative and practical way for assessing dietary data for research in the nutrition field. The main advantage of this electronic platform is that it provides researchers with a fast and inexpensive access to dietary data, which is self-recorded by the study participants. Visual demonstration of the electronic food diary is critical to ensure accuracy in the recording of dietary data by study participants and to minimize sources of error.
To begin, provide the participants with a traditional paper-based food diary with instructions on how to use it. Then, instruct the participants to complete the diary for three consecutive days before their next visit. Next, instruct the participants to read the instructions and the example day included in the food diary prior to recording any food or drink over three consecutive days.
Instruct participants to read the checklist of commonly forgotten foods and beverages and to include them in the food diary, and instruct the participants to be as specific and detailed as possible in their documentation. After this, ask the participants to enter the information recorded on the paper food diary in the electronic diary at the end of each of the three days. Show participants how to enter the information into the electronic diary before they do it by themselves and answer any questions that they might have.
First, send an invitation email to the study participants with the link to register a new account in the electronic platform. After completing the registration process, have the participant select the icon guide and instruct them to carefully read the visual guide on how to use the electronic food diary. To create an electronic food diary, have the participants select the icon with their specific project title.
Then, have the participants select new food diary to create a new electronic food diary and start recording foods and drinks consumed for three days. Using the search tool, the participant can find food and drink items they consumed during the day from the database. Have the participant click on the desired food and drink items and drag them onto the plate to reflect the meals consumed at that time.
Then, the participant can select one of the small plates at the bottom of the page to move on to different meals. When the selected plate starts to bounce, the participant can enter the consumed foods and beverages. Next, instruct the participant to click save changes to save all of the entries from that day.
In the entries page, the participant can click the eye icon to visualize the comparison between their calculated dietary intakes and those of the average population. After this, export the average value of energy and nutrient intakes for each participant into a spreadsheet via the platform managing portal. Finally, import the spreadsheet into statistical software for analysis.
In this study, participants were asked to complete both paper-based and electronic food diaries. There was no significant difference in the mean energy and macronutrient intake between the written and electronic food diary. However, the Bland-Altman plots show wide, 95%limits of agreement, particularly for energy intake, with some cases lying outside of the 95%confidence intervals.
To obtain the best dietary data, it is important that study participants have a clear understanding on how to utilize the electronic food diary, and they should make sure to contact researchers for support, should they encounter any difficulties in its completion. This electronic food diary paved the way in the field of nutrition to explore new interactive methods of dietary data collection, which are both enjoyable for study participants and save time and costs for researchers.
