JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

There are many constraints to conducting national food consumption surveys for the purposes of national nutrition surveillance including cost, time and participant burden. Validated Web-based dietary assessment technologies offer a potential solution to many if these constraints.

Objective:

This study investigated the feasibility of using a previously validated, Web-based 24-hour recall dietary assessment tool (Foodbook24) for the purposes of nutrition surveillance by comparing the demographic characteristics and the quality of dietary intake data collected from an online cohort of participants in Ireland to the most recent Irish National Adult Nutrition Survey (NANS).

Methods:

Irish adult participants (aged 18 and over) were recruited to use Foodbook24 (Web-based tool). Demographic and dietary intake (by means of 2 non-consecutive self-administered 24-hour recalls) data was collected using Foodbook24. Following completion of the study, the dietary intake data collected were statistically weighted to represent the population of participants that completed the National Adult and Nutrition Survey (NANS) (2011) to facilitate the controlled comparison of intake data. Demographic characteristics of survey respondents were investigated using descriptive statistics in SPSS V20. The controlled comparison of weighted mean daily nutrient intake data collected from the Foodbook24 Web-based study (n= 329 plausible reporters) and the mean daily nutrient intake data collected from NANS (n=1051 plausible reporters) was conducted using the Wilcoxon-Mann–Whitney U-test in Creme Nutrition® software.

Results:

The results of this analysis highlight many differences between the demographic characteristics between both sets of survey participants. Notable differences included a lower proportion of adults aged 65 years and over and a higher proportion of females participated in the Web-based Foodbook24 study relative to the NANS study. Similar ranges of mean daily intakes for the majority of nutrients and food groups were observed (e.g. Energy (kcal/day) and Carbohydrate (g/day)), although significant differences for some nutrient (e.g. Riboflavin (mg/10MJ) and Vitamin B12 (µg/10MJ)) and food groups were identified. A high proportion of participants (47%) reported a willingness to continue to use Foodbook24 for an additional 6-month period.

Conclusions:

These findings suggest that by using targeted recruitment strategies in the future to ensure the recruitment of a more representative sample, there is potential for Web-based methodologies such as Foodbook24 to be used for nutrition surveillance efforts in Ireland. Clinical Trial: n/a