DIETARY RESEARCH MONITORING SYSTEM

DESCRIPTION (provided by investigator): The purpose of this Phase II project is to further develop and evaluate a webcentric Palm program to monitor dietary intake or assist users in following a diet prescribed by a dietary researcher or nutritionist. The Dietary Research Monitoring System (DRMS) will utilize a Palm OS program for food intake recording which is then synced to the web and made available to the dietary professional for review or download. The DRMS also will allow the dietary professional to set dietary parameters to follow using a web interface. These dietary parameters will then be made available to the palm user to follow a recommended diet and receive feedback about compliance to that diet. In Phase I, a prototype of the DRMS program was developed. Feedback was obtained from dietary researchers and clinical nutritionists. The DRMS was evaluated in a small concurrent validity trial using a counterbalanced, crossover design. The results of Phase I showed that the DRMS produced correlations with food frequency questionnaires and 24 hr. dietary recall which were comparable to those found for food diary recording. For Phase II, the DRMS will be revamped and further developed based on the feedback obtained in Phase I. The resulting product will be evaluated by a pilot of potential end users for three days, and by a group of dietary professionals using the web interface. The product will then be evaluated in a randomly controlled trial comparing the DRMS to food diaries on: a) correlations and agreements with other dietary assessment measures (e.g. 24 hr. recall, food frequency questionnaire) and on the degree of compliance to a prescribed diet. One hundred and fifty subjects will be recruited and will monitor food intake for one week, then follow a prescribed diet for three weeks. The results of this Phase II project will be used to develop a commercial grade dietary assessment tool for use by various dietary professionals.