NHD-EXTRA: RESEARCH & RESOURCES
SMARTPHONE APPLICATIONS: ARE THEY A HELP OR A HINDRANCE? Dr Carina Venter PhD, RD Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, USA Carina is currently an Assistant Professor of Paediatrics, Section of Allergy and Immunology at the Children’s Hospital Colorado and University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, where she is conducting research and working with children and adults with a range of food allergies.
Kate Maslin PhD RD Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, UK
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In this article, Carina and Kate report on a survey that was conducted with users of an electronic smartphone application specifically designed for the management of food allergies in adults. The prevalence of food allergies in children range between 0.1-6.0% in Europe,1 and 1.1-10.4% worldwide.2 Prevalence data on adult food allergies is scarce and no data establishing the true prevalence of food allergies in adults exists.2 Diet plays a crucial role in the management of food allergies. Although the dietary management of food allergy extends beyond individualised allergen avoidance, this aspect will always remain the most important part of patient management.3 Recent studies clearly indicate that food allergies affect quality of life. This is also true for those with self-reported food allergies/ intolerances, who avoid foods due to perceived symptoms.4 Food allergy affects quality of life (QoL) in four domains: food anxiety, emotional impact, social and dietary limitations.5 Venter et al4 found that there was no difference in QoL in those trying to avoid food due to a perceived or proven food allergy (p = 0.062), clearly indicating the burden of food avoidance in both groups. In addition, Greenhawt et al6 showed that anaphylaxis, multiple food allergies and food allergies other than just peanuts or tree nuts were associated with a significantly worse QoL score, most likely due to the vigilance required to avoid the trigger foods. Adhering to a restrictive diet can also affect the time taken to shop and the cost of buying food.7 Wolf et al8 showed that the average weekly price of the six food exclusion diet (SFED) at a standard US supermarket was $92.54
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compared to $79.84 for an unrestricted diet (p = 0.0001). Patients also often had to visit a second specialist grocery store to obtain all the foods needed. Food allergy and nutrition related papers mention that the future of food allergy management should include the use of electronic diaries and software applications to improve patient food intake and nutritional care.9 One of the questions we raised, however, was whether these technologies truly benefit our patients/clients. SPOON GURU
We report below about a brief survey that was conducted with UK users of the electronic smartphone application, Spoon Guru (SG). SG is available in the UK and has just launched in the US (see www.spoon.guru/app for more details). This smartphone application allows the user to find products which match the individual’s dietary requirements, through barcode scanner and search functionality. In order to instil cooking skills and prevent unnecessary reliance on packaged food, the smartphone application also provides recipes matched to the individual’s dietary needs. The smartphone application contains pre-set lifestyle and allergen/intolerance dietary options for the user to select. The list of lifestyle options to choose from include vegan, vegetarian, ovovegetarian, lacto-vegetarian, pescatarian, palm oil free, paleo, organic, low sugar, low salt, low fat and yeast avoidance. The list of allergen options to choose from include the 14 major allergens as identified by the European Union, as