๐Ÿง‘๐Ÿผโ€๐Ÿ’ป Research - January 10, 2026

Measuring diet intake in adolescents: Relative validation of an artificial intelligence enhanced, image assisted mobile application.

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โšก Quick Summary

A recent study evaluated the relative validity of the Keenoa mobile application, an artificial intelligence-enhanced tool for dietary assessment, against the validated ASA24 platform among adolescents. The findings suggest that Keenoa provides comparable results for energy and macronutrient intakes, while highlighting some discrepancies in micronutrient reporting.

๐Ÿ” Key Details

  • ๐Ÿ‘ฅ Participants: 141 adolescents aged 11-15 years
  • ๐Ÿ“… Study Design: Randomized crossover design over three days
  • ๐Ÿ› ๏ธ Tools Used: Keenoa mobile app and ASA24 web-based platform
  • ๐Ÿ“Š Key Metrics: Energy intake, macronutrients, and micronutrients

๐Ÿ”‘ Key Takeaways

  • ๐Ÿ“ˆ Energy intake reported by Keenoa (1978 ยฑ 425 kcal/d) was similar to ASA24 (1976 ยฑ 451 kcal/d) with no significant difference (P = 0.95).
  • ๐Ÿ” Macronutrient intakes showed no significant differences between the two tools.
  • ๐Ÿ“‰ Fiber intake was reported higher with Keenoa, while sodium, calcium, and vitamin D were lower (P values < 0.001-0.025).
  • ๐Ÿ”— Deattenuated correlations between tools ranged from r = 0.77 to 1.00 (all p < 0.01).
  • ๐Ÿ“Š Agreement scores (weighted Cohen ฮบ) ranged from 0.22 to 0.42 (all p < 0.001).
  • โœ… Completion rates were higher for Keenoa (85.8%) compared to ASA24 (55.3%) (P < 0.01).
  • ๐ŸŒŸ Keenoa may help reduce attrition bias in dietary assessments.
  • ๐Ÿ”ฎ Future validation with objective biomarkers is needed to establish true validity.

๐Ÿ“š Background

Adolescence is a pivotal stage for growth and development, where nutritional choices can significantly influence long-term health outcomes. Traditional dietary assessment methods often fall short when applied to large adolescent populations, necessitating innovative solutions. The advent of mobile applications enhanced by artificial intelligence presents a promising avenue for more accurate and user-friendly dietary tracking.

๐Ÿ—’๏ธ Study

This study was conducted within the framework of the CHILD Cohort Study, involving 141 adolescents aged 11-15 years. Participants were asked to track their food intake using both the Keenoa app and the ASA24 platform over three days, including two weekdays and one weekend day. The aim was to assess the relative validity of Keenoa in comparison to the established ASA24 method.

๐Ÿ“ˆ Results

The results indicated that the Keenoa application demonstrated strong to moderate relative validity against ASA24 for energy, macronutrient, potassium, and iron intakes. However, discrepancies were noted in the reporting of fiber, sodium, calcium, and vitamin D, suggesting that while Keenoa is a reliable tool, it may require further refinement in certain areas.

๐ŸŒ Impact and Implications

The findings from this study highlight the potential of the Keenoa mobile application to facilitate dietary assessments among adolescents, thereby improving data collection in nutritional research. By reducing attrition bias and enhancing user engagement, such tools could lead to more accurate dietary data, ultimately informing public health strategies aimed at improving adolescent nutrition and reducing chronic disease risk.

๐Ÿ”ฎ Conclusion

The Keenoa mobile application represents a significant advancement in dietary assessment technology for adolescents. With its demonstrated validity in tracking dietary intake, it holds promise for future research and public health initiatives. Continued validation efforts, particularly using objective biomarkers, will be essential to fully establish its efficacy and reliability in diverse populations.

๐Ÿ’ฌ Your comments

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Measuring diet intake in adolescents: Relative validation of an artificial intelligence enhanced, image assisted mobile application.

Abstract

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Puberty is a critical period of development during which nutritional exposures are known to shape long-term health and the risk of chronic diseases. Current dietary assessment methods have limitations for use in large cohorts of adolescent populations. We aimed to evaluate the relative validity of Keenoa (not an acronym), an artificial intelligence-enhanced image-assisted mobile application, against the validated Automated Self-Administered 24 h recall (ASA24)-Canada web-based platform, among adolescents in the CHILD Cohort Study.
METHODS: Using a randomized crossover design, participants aged 11-15 years old completed three days (two weekdays and one weekend day) of both Keenoa food tracking and ASA24 food recalls. Differences in reported intakes were analyzed using paired t-tests or Wilcoxon signed-rank test and deattenuated correlations by Spearman’s coefficient. Agreement and bias were determined using Bland-Altman’s test, and inter-quartile cross-classification agreement was assessed using weighted Cohen kappa.
RESULTS: This study included 141 participants with a mean age of 12.2 ยฑ 0.8 years; of them 74 (52.5 %) males; and 88 (62.4 %) identified as Caucasian/White. Mean ยฑ SD reported energy intakes (kcal/d) were 1976 ยฑ 451 and 1978 ยฑ 425, with ASA24 and Keenoa, respectively (P = 0.95). Mean reported macronutrient, iron, and potassium intakes did not significantly differ between tools. Reported fiber intake was higher, while sodium, calcium and vitamin D intakes were lower with Keenoa compared to ASA24 (P values < 0.001-0.025). Deattenuated correlations between tools ranged from r = 0.77 to 1.00 (all p< 0.01) and weighted Cohen ฮบ scores ranged from 0.22 to 0.42 (all p < 0.001). Among all participants, 121 (85.8 %) and 78 (55.3 %) completed all 3 requested days with Keenoa and ASA24, respectively (P< 0.01). CONCLUSION: The artificial intelligence-enhanced image-assisted Keenoa mobile application showed strong to moderate relative validity against ASA24 for energy, macronutrient, potassium and iron intakes. Vitamin D, calcium, fiber and sodium showed limited relative agreement based on mean differences. This novel tool may facilitate dietary assessment and reduce attrition bias in cohort studies. Future validation using objective biomarker measures will help establish true validity.

Author: [‘Moyen A’, ‘Rossi A’, ‘Hart M’, ‘Simons E’, ‘Mandhane PJ’, ‘Moraes TJ’, ‘Azad MB’, ‘Turvey SE’, ‘Subbarao P’, ‘Tessier AJ’, ‘Miliku K’]

Journal: Clin Nutr

Citation: Moyen A, et al. Measuring diet intake in adolescents: Relative validation of an artificial intelligence enhanced, image assisted mobile application. Measuring diet intake in adolescents: Relative validation of an artificial intelligence enhanced, image assisted mobile application. 2026; 57:106568. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2025.106568

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