Use of diet-tracking websites as a resource for hard-to-find food label information: an example using specialty grocery store items

Authors: GILHOOLY, CHERYL - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University; MOVSESIAN, STEPHANIE - Boston Heart Diagnostics; ROYAL, NATALIE - Providence Health & Services; CHEW, ANNA - Fresenius Medical Care North; QIAO, NING - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University

Submitted to: Procedia Food Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/17/2015
Publication Date: 7/1/2015
Citation: Gilhooly, C., Movsesian, S., Royal, N., Chew, A., Qiao, N. 2015. Use of diet-tracking websites as a resource for hard-to-find food label information: an example using specialty grocery store items. Procedia Food Science. 4:55-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profoo.2015.06.009.

Interpretive Summary: The nutrient contents of specialty foods cannot be found in many research-focused food databases. However, some nutrient data can be found for these specialty foods through individual website searches using brand and store names. For example, some popular diet-tracking websites contain data for over 3 million foods. The limitation of these nutrient data is that they are often entered by consumers and based on non-systematic searches. The reliability of these data to guide research dietary data entry decisions is unknown. To address this, five popular diet-tracking websites were used to compare the availability and accuracy of data for food items from a specialty grocery store that are currently unavailable in research-focused food databases. The majority of food labels selected had available nutrient data on at least one website. However over 30% of foods had at least one inaccurate entry. The presence of duplicate and inaccurate entries in these diet-tracking websites highlights the need for caution when using these sites to guide dietary data entry decisions.

Technical Abstract: Many specialty foods cannot be found in research-focused food databases. However, some nutrient data can be found for many of these foods through individual website searches using brand and store names. Some popular diet-tracking websites contain data for over 3 million foods, data often entered by consumers, based on non-systematic searches. The reliability of these data to guide dietary data entry decisions are unknown. Five popular diet-tracking websites were used to compare the availability and accuracy of data for food items from a specialty grocery store that are currently unavailable in research-focused food databases.