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Enhancing Dietary Assessments and Nutritional Monitoring Through Digital Health Monitoring and Intervention

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition Methodology & Assessment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 November 2025 | Viewed by 600

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA
Interests: intensive longitudinal data; wearables; real-time behavioral tracking; dietary and health behaviors; citizen health science

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Guest Editor
Department of Health Sciences, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, 635 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Interests: eating patterns; meal timing; dietary composition; taste preferences; sleep patterns; physical activity; appetite; obesity; energy regulation; chronic disease risk; psychological factors; dietary assessment methodology; wearable technology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Traditional dietary assessment methods face challenges such as recall bias and low adherence. Digital health technologies—including wearables, mobile apps, and AI—offer innovative solutions for real-time, objective monitoring of eating behaviors and nutritional intake. This Special Issue explores cutting-edge approaches for improving dietary assessment accuracy, usability, and intervention effectiveness.

Please consider submitting original research manuscripts regarding in vivo, real-time tracking of eating behaviors. Empirical studies are our focus; however, submissions are not limited to these alone, but can also include theoretical articles, conceptual models, novel and innovative technologies, and field-wide reviews of technologies and applications. Approaches incorporating artificial intelligence approaches for the identification of ingestive behaviors, the context of use, total caloric or energy intakes, and feedback are all of particular interest.

I look forward to your submissions.

Prof. Dr. Theodore Walls
Dr. Megan A. McCrory
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • wearable devices
  • dietary assessment
  • eating behavior
  • food images
  • eating patterns
  • chrononutrition
  • chronic disease risk
  • internet of things (IoT)
  • ambulatory monitoring
  • ecological momentary assessment
  • food photography
  • real-time measurement
  • intensive longitudinal data
  • multiple behavior monitoring

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 1650 KB  
Article
Integration of the PortionSize Ed App into SNAP-Ed for Improving Diet Quality Among Adolescents in Hawaii: A Randomized Pilot Study
by Emerald S. Proctor, Kiari H. L. Aveiro, Ian Pagano, Lynne R. Wilkens, Leihua Park, Leilani Spencer, Jeannie Butel, Corby K. Martin, John W. Apolzan, Rachel Novotny, John Kearney and Chloe P. Lozano
Nutrients 2025, 17(19), 3145; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17193145 (registering DOI) - 1 Oct 2025
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Abstract
Background/Objectives: Coupling mobile health (mHealth) technology with community-based nutrition programs may enhance diet quality in adolescents. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of integrating PortionSize Ed (PSEd), an image-assisted dietary assessment and education app, into the six-week Hawaii Food [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Coupling mobile health (mHealth) technology with community-based nutrition programs may enhance diet quality in adolescents. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of integrating PortionSize Ed (PSEd), an image-assisted dietary assessment and education app, into the six-week Hawaii Food and Lifeskills for Youth (HI-FLY) curriculum delivered via Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed). Methods: Adolescents (grades 6–8) from two classrooms were cluster-randomized into HI-FLY or HI-FLY + PSEd. Both groups received HI-FLY and completed Youth Questionnaires (YQ) and food records (written or app-based) at Weeks 0 and 7. Feasibility and acceptability were assessed via enrollment, attrition, and User Satisfaction Surveys (USS). Diet quality was measured using Healthy Eating Index-2020 (HEI-2020) scores and analyzed via mixed-effects models. Results: Of 50 students, 42 (84%) enrolled and attrition was minimal (2.4%). The sample was 49% female and 85% at least part Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (NHPI). PSEd was acceptable, with average USS scores above the scale midpoint. No significant HEI-2020 changes were observed, though YQ responses indicated improvements in sugary drink intake (p = 0.03) and use of nutrition labels in HI-FLY + PSEd (p = 0.0007). Conclusions: Integrating PSEd into SNAP-Ed was feasible, acceptable, and demonstrated potential healthy behavior change among predominantly NHPI youth in Hawaii. Full article
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