Table 1.
Nutritional functionalities of the five diet-tracking applications included in this study a.
| Function | FiNC | MyFitnessPal | Asken | Calomiru | Mogutan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food items available in the database | |||||
| General foods and dishes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Restaurant meals | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | None |
| Branded food products | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Only four items |
| Number of food items | No information | ≥4,000,000 | ≥100,000 | About 4000 for general foods/about 15,000 for restaurant meals and branded food products | 278 |
| Sources of nutrient content of foods | |||||
| Food manufacturers | No information | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | No information |
| Estimation by application vendors | No information | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | No information |
| National nutrient databases | No information | USDA SR Crowd-sourced database b |
STFCJ 2015 | Not specified c | No information |
| User-generated data | None | ✓ | None | None | None |
| Input of eating occasion | |||||
| Eating occasion category | Breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack | Customizable up to six categories | Breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack | Breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack | Breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack |
| Time of eating | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | None |
| Input methods of food intake | |||||
| Food images | ✓ | None | ✓ d | ✓ | None |
| Text search from food databases | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | None |
| Barcode scanner | None | ✓ | None | None | None |
| Original recipes or foods | None | ✓ | None | ✓ | ✓ |
| Other | None | None | None | None | Select from food stickers |
| Quantification of food intake | Percentage to standard serving sizes (unit: 10%) | Percentage to standard serving sizes (unit: 1%) or amount (gram/milliliter/cup/ounce) | Percentage to standard serving sizes (unit: any percentages) or energy content | Percentage to standard serving sizes (unit: 1%) | Three PS categories: all/half/a little or energy content |
| Methods to calculate nutrient intake | |||||
| Manual calculation by dietitians | None | None | None | ✓ | None |
| Automated calculation from inputted food intake | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Semiautomatic image analysis | ✓ | None | None | ✓ | None |
| Output of dietary variables (shown as intake values) | Energy and 15 nutrients (+sugar for the premium version) | Energy and 12 nutrients | Energy (+13 nutrients for the premium version) | Energy and 5 nutrients | Energy |
| Validation studies | None | Two studies | None | None | None |
PS, portion size; STFCJ, Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan; USDA SR, US Department of Agriculture National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. a Functions are for the free version of each app unless otherwise indicated. The check mark represents that apps have the respective features. b Users can freely upload food items and correct the energy and nutrient content. c Referred to as “food composition databases” (no further information). d Users can register food photos as memos although the photos are not analyzed.