Development of a Nutritional Consultation System for Patients in the Community Using Information Technology

Abstract

We developed a system in which patients at clinics in the community can directly consult dietitians in the university hospital about their nutritional problems using information technology (IT). Fifteen patients with hypercholesterolemia, and with their informed consent, took photos of their own food with digital cameras for any 3 consecutive days in 3 consecutive 10 day periods, and then sent them through the server to registered dietitians (RDs) via the Internet, administrated by the Asahi Kasei Corporation (AKC) using personal computers (PCs) with software made by AKC. After checking the foods, the RDs then sent back recommendations to the patients on their own PCs and to the patients' doctors via the Internet. Because the patients tried to change their eating habits using this system, their hypercholesterolemia was significantly improved after only 1 month. This proves that this new system using IT can be useful for providing nutritional advice in a community medical setting.