admin A team of researchers have developed a novel method of measuring food consumption by the use of smartphones. This is a step towards helping consumers predict their physical well-being by using their cellular devices to indicate the changes needed in their consumption patterns.
Problems with the Conventional Means
Traditionally, the method used to collect data on food consumption has been predominantly based on questionnaires and surveys that ask the respondent to recall their dietary choices of the past 24 hours. Or they elicit information about the common dietary choices made by individuals over a period of a month or a few weeks. However, these forms of data collection mechanisms fail to tap into the real-time consumption patterns of respondents, thus, losing out on valuable insights. This also prevents analyses that directly link nutrition with physical activity and other measures of well-being—a notable shortcoming given the estimated two billion people in the world who are affected by moderate to severe food insecurity.
Researchers Involved in the Study
Andrew Reid Bell, an Assistant Professor in New York University’s Department of Environmental studies stated, “We’ve harnessed the expanding presence of mobile and smartphones around the globe to measure food consumption over time with precision and with the potential to capture seasonal shifts in diet and food consumption patterns.” Bell has also published a paper that appeared in the journal of Environmental Research Letters.
He adds, “Mainstreaming data collection by respondents themselves, through their own devices, would be transformative for understanding food security and for empirical social science in general. It would mean their voices being counted through participation on their own time and terms, and not only by giving up a half-day or longer of work. For researchers, it would mean having connections to rural communities and a picture of their well-being all the time, not just when resources flow to a place in response to crisis, potentially unearthing an understanding of resilience in the face of stressors that has never before been possible.” The team also included researchers from the University of Minnesota, Imperial College London, the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation, and Duke Kunshan University. Mary Killilea, a clinical professor in NYU’s Department of Environmental Studies, and Mari Roberts, an NYU graduate student, were also a part of the research team.
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