Dietitians of Canada

The validity of the dietary information provided to consumers by EATracker (www.EATracker.ca) has not been evaluated relative to other dietary assessment techniques. This project will answer the research question, “how well does EATracker reflect the food group and nutrient intake achieved with the ‘best’ of other recall techniques, to assess 24 hour dietary intake?” The objectives are: a) to assess and compare food group and nutrient intakes of consumers using EATracker’s 24-hour dietary assessment to one-on-one 24-hour dietary recall interviews with trained dietitians, and b) to obtain participant feedback on the tool in relation to discrepancies identified between EATracker and the dietitian interview. Sixty female volunteers (19-30 years (n=30) and 31-50 years (n=30)) currently using EATracker will be recruited. Females in this age group reflect the majority of current EATracker users. Participants will complete EATracker’s 24h dietary assessment and then be interviewed on a one-to-one basis by a trained dietitian using multiple-pass techniques and food models. Dietitians will also obtain participant feedback on the tool in relation to discrepancies identified between EATracker and the interview. Data from the website and the interviews will be compared by age group, using intraclass correlation coefficients, and for differences in means between groups using Student’s paired t-test. If the results show that EATracker is a valid tool, it could be an economical way to look at cumulative data and help monitor food choice and nutrient intake trends in Canada. EATracker could be used by dietitians to assess nutrition interventions in a variety of dietetic practice settings (e.g., family health networks, public health, and private practice). Feedback from this study will be used to improve the validity and utility of the tool.