Abstracting nutritional information of food service facilities using the pervasive healthy diet adviser

Abstract

It would be surprising to find a news publication in the United States today without a mention of words like obesity, diabetes and diet. This is a reflection of the growing awareness worldwide about the importance of a healthy diet in preventing nutrition related chronic diseases like obesity and cancer. A recent study by the United States Department of Agriculture reports that Americans spend more than half of their food dollars on meals at food service facilities. This means that the nutritional content of the food that these facilities provide is an important determinant of national health. We present PHDA, a diet advising application that leverages the power of preventive medicine and ubiquitous computing to help its users choose a healthy diet. Specifically, we discuss the fidelity of different mobile device based peripheral displays in abstracting nutrient data of the food, served in food chains around the country. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.