Validity and Usability of a Smartphone Image-Based Dietary Assessment App Compared to 3-Day Food Diaries in Assessing Dietary Intake Among Canadian Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial

BackgroundAccurate dietary assessment is needed in studies that include analysis of nutritional intake. Image-based dietary assessment apps have gained in popularity for assessing diet, which may ease researcher and participant burden compared to traditional pen-to-paper methods. However, few studies report the validity of these apps for use in research. Keenoa is a smartphone image-based dietary assessment app that recognizes and identifies food items using artificial intelligence and permits real-time editing of food journals. ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the relative validity of an image-based dietary assessment app — Keenoa — against a 3-day food diary (3DFD) and to test its usability in a sample of healthy Canadian adults. MethodsWe recruited 102 participants to complete two 3-day food records. For 2 weeks, on 2 non-consecutive days and 1 weekend day, in random order, participants completed a traditional pen-to-paper 3DFD and the Keenoa app. At the end of the study, participants completed the System Usability Scale. The nutrient analyses of the 3DFD and Keenoa data before (Keenoa-participant) and after they were reviewed by dietitians (Keenoa-dietitian) were analyzed using analysis of variance. Multiple tests, including the Pearson coefficient, cross-classification, kappa score, % difference, paired t test, and Bland-Altman test, were performed to analyze the validity of Keenoa (Keenoa-dietitian). ResultsThe study was completed by 72 subjects. Most variables were significantly different between Keenoa-participant and Keenoa-dietitian (P