User-documented food consumption data from publicly available apps: an analysis of opportunities and challenges for nutrition research

Abstract

BackgroundThe need for a better understanding of food consumption behaviour within its behavioural context has sparked the interest of nutrition researchers for user-documented food consumption data collected outside the research context using publicly available nutrition apps. The study aims to characterize the scientific, technical, legal and ethical features of this data in order to identify the opportunities and challenges associated with using this data for nutrition research.MethodA search for apps collecting food consumption data was conducted in October 2016 against UK Google Play and iTunes storefronts. 176 apps were selected based on user ratings and English language support. Publicly available information from the app stores and app-related websites was investigated and relevant data extracted and summarized. Our focus was on characteristics related to scientific relevance, data management and legal and ethical governance of user-documented food consumption data.ResultsFood diaries are the most common form of data collection, allowing for multiple inputs including generic food items, packaged products, or images. Standards and procedures for compiling food databases used for estimating energy and nutrient intakes remain largely undisclosed. Food consumption data is interlinked with various types of contextual data related to behavioural motivation, physical activity, health, and fitness. While exchange of data between apps is common practise, the majority of apps lack technical documentation regarding data export. There is a similar lack of documentation regarding the implemented terms of use and privacy policies. While users are usually the owners of their data, vendors are granted irrevocable and royalty free licenses to commercially exploit the data.ConclusionDue to its magnitude, diversity, and interconnectedness, user-documented food consumption data offers promising opportunities for a better understanding of habitual food consumption behaviour and its determinants. Non-standardized or non-documented food data compilation procedures, data exchange protocols and formats, terms of use and privacy statements, however, limit possibilities to integrate, process and share user-documented food consumption data. An ongoing research effort is required, to keep pace with the technical advancements of food consumption apps, their evolving data networks and the legal and ethical regulations related to protecting app users and their personal data.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12937-018-0366-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Security and Privacy of mHealth Applications: A Scoping Review

“…On a more detailed level, Table 6 includes the categories and subcategories of evaluation artefacts and the numbers of papers that covered them. Healthcare expert evaluation [69], user evaluation [21], [72] [2], [6], [8], [17], [21], [22], [24], [27], [41], [68]- [70], [72], [75], [77]- [79], [81]- [83] Privacy policy (PP) and Terms of Agreement (ToA) content evaluation Readability assessment [17], [23], [56], [116] [1], [6], [17], [22]- [24], [41], [55], [56], [58], [60], [68], [71], [74], [75], [77], [78], [83], [116] Technical security mechanisms evaluation…”

Maintaining and updating food composition datasets for multiple users and novel technologies: Current challenges from a UK perspective

“…UK compilers work with their international counterparts to produce harmonised, standardised data, and these initiatives often start as research projects, such as the EuroFIR Network of Excellence under EU FP6 (Westenbrink et al 2016). New research initiatives such as the Food, Nutrition and Health Research Infrastructure, developed from the outcomes of the RICHFIELDS project (Maringer et al 2018), and large‐scale projects such as the Food and Nutrition Security Cloud Horizon2020 project (http://www.fns-cloud.eu/) are reshaping how food and nutrition data are stored, shared and utilised across Europe. Food composition data will form an integral part of any future over‐arching research infrastructure or federation of food data.…”

Reusing Data Technical and Ethical Challenges

“…Furthermore, food consumption information could be considered personal data. Therefore, this would present a challenge in Europe, given that General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) would apply 38 . Another study related to commercial pig farming found that analysing secondary data was a challenge since there were limitations related to the combined use of several data sources.…”