JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

A smartphone image recognition application is expected to be a novel tool for measuring nutrients and food intake, but its performance has not been well evaluated.

Objective:

We assessed the accuracy of the performance of an image recognition application called CALO mama in terms of the nutrient and food group contents automatically estimated by the application.

Methods:

We prepared 120 meal samples for which the nutrients and food groups were calculated. Next, we predicted the nutrients and food groups included in the meals from their photographs using 1) automated image recognition only and 2) manual modification after automatic identification.

Results:

Predictions generated using only image recognition were similar to the actual data on the weight of meals and were accurate for 11 out of 30 nutrients, and 4 out of 15 food groups; the application underestimated energy, 19 nutrients, and 9 food groups; it overestimated dairy products and confectioneries. After manual modification, the predictions were similar for energy, accurately capturing the nutrients for 29 out of 30 of meals and the food groups for 10 out of 15 of meals; the application underestimated pulses, fruits, and meats; it overestimated weight, vitamin C, vegetables, and confectioneries.

Conclusions:

The results of this study suggest that manual modification after prediction using image recognition improves the performance in assessing the nutrients and food groups of meals. Our findings suggest that image recognition has the potential to achieve a description of the dietary intakes of populations using “precision nutrition” (a comprehensive and dynamic approach to developing tailored nutritional recommendations) for individuals.