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A computer-based dietary counseling system is described. Designed to interact directly with patients, the program interviews people about their dietary behavior and plans with them a weight-reducing diet of approximately 1,500 kcal. In a preliminary trial, twenty-five volunteers gave critical commentary en route through the interviews. The results provided insight into the process of dietary interviewing by computer and helped in the preparation of an experimental study (10). It is our hope that a revised and expanded version of the program will be helpful to both patients and nutritionists in the management of a variety of clinically important dietary problems.

A computer-based dietary counseling system was tested by sixty-four volunteers from the Boston area. Most of the patients seemed to benefit from their interaction with the computer, and the two participating nutritionists frequently found that the program was useful as an antecedent to their own one-to-one sessions with the patients.