Comparação de três programas computacionais utilizados na avaliação de recordatórios alimentares 24 horas

Abstract

Food intake assessment has an important role in nutrition research and health. For this purpose, right methods areneeded to estimate appropriate intake of food and nutrients. The informatics market has developed several specializedcomputer programs in clinical nutrition field. However, choosing the most appropriate program has been a difficultdecision due all of operational features available in each one. This study aimed to compare three computer programs(Dietwin ® professional DietPro ® 5i and Avanutri Revolution ®) used in chemical analysis of ten 24-hour foodrecall from ten Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis patients, attending in by specific Multidisciplinary Team at FederalUniversity of Rio Grande do Norte. There was no statistical difference between the three computer programs relatedto energy, macronutrients and micronutrients. Despite this, some differences were detected like measure portion foodsizes. Moreover, there was wrong quantification of iron and copper content in two foods. We conclude that careshould be taken to choose a computer program in clinical nutrition, because it can overestimate or underestimatevalues of calories and nutrients in a specific diet. In addition, it is necessary to be especially careful in the informationsources that will feed the database of these programs. They should be as reliable as possible