The Vienna Food Record
- 11.09.2019
- English Articles
- Isabel Bersenkowitsch
- Birgit Kogler
- Anna Tritscher
- Sonja Visontai
- Peter Putz
Peer-reviewed / Manuscript (original contribution) received: September 14, 2018 / Revision accepted: February 27, 2019
User-centered development of a prospective food record for application in Austrian adults
Introduction
Assessing dietary intake is a key element of nutritional epidemiology and nutritional research [1]. Such information can be used to evaluate the intake of nutrients at population level. Subsequently, associations between dietary behavior and health effects can be identified. The risk of nutrition-related diseases can thus be estimated at the population level [2]. Individual results from dietary assessments are also used as the basis for nutrition counseling.
Various methods are available for assessing dietary intake, where each has its specific strengths and weaknesses. • Table 1 provides an overview of prospective and retrospective dietary assessment methods [3]. Advantages and disadvantages of these methods are often mutually exclusive. Hence, it appears to be difficult to achieve both, high validity and high user compliance. The Vienna Food Record aimed at addressing this challenge: achieving high compliance, time-efficient utilization, and acceptable validity.
Abstract
The Vienna Food Record was realized by FH Campus Wien – University of Applied Sciences for the Austrian nutritional database provider dato Denkwerkzeuge. This prospective food record was developed in the course of two bachelor theses and was based on the methodology of the Freiburg Food Record (Freiburger Ernährungsprotokoll). The aim was to create a simple, reliable, and valid food record that is adapted to the Austrian dietary behavior and does not require any interview or instruction by an expert. It was designed in order to simplify the process for those completing as well as those evaluating the record in private, scientific, clinical, and commercial settings.
The design of the Vienna Food Record took place in the course of three development phases. In the first phase, the project team evaluated the user-friendliness of the Freiburg Food Record. Moreover, food items were selected for the Vienna Food Record based on the intake frequencies of food items in Austria, as derived from the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database. In order to establish portion sizes, entries from the food composition program nut.s®, which is based on the German Food Composition Database (Bundeslebensmittelschlüssel [BLS] version 3.02) and the Austrian Nutritional Values Table (Österreichische Nährwerttabelle [ÖNWT]) were used, where available. In the second stage of development, the present prototype was applied and evaluated internally by the project staff. Finally, strengths and weaknesses were identified via a qualitative content analysis from a focus group interview, providing demands for the final revision.
The result was the Vienna Food Record: a 12-sided DIN A5 brochure with 182 pre-coded food items. Pictograms were included to support the estimation of the portion sizes. A single-page guideline explains the logging procedure and, thus, eliminates the need for an interview or instruction by an expert. After finalization of development of the Vienna Food Record, its reliability and validity were assessed against a weighed food record in a separate randomized crossover study.
Keywords: dietary intake assessment, prospective food record, Vienna Food Record, user-centered design, intake frequencies of food items, qualitative content analysis
