Design and Validation of Web- Based Persian Food Composition to Eevaluate Energy and Nutrients Intake: A Basic Applied Study Using the Data From the Ravanser Cohort Study

For accurate dietary intake assessments, the need for accurate and valid tools is urgent. These tools, in addition to easy use, immediately show a complete analysis of food intake in the form of macronutrients and micronutrients. The aim of this study was to design and validate the web-based Persian Food Composition to determine the calories and nutrients consumed.

The present basic applied study was conducted using PHP 7.1 programming language for the systematic implementation of the system and also Laravel 8 framework in order to use the features of an integrated and comprehensive coding framework for designing a web-based food recall and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). After designing the present system, we entered the dietary intake information of 40 participants into the Persian Food Composition.  Then we compared Persian Food Composition with the Nutritionist IV (N4) software.

A significant positive correlation was observed between calorie intake, macronutrients and major micronutrients of the Persian Food Composition with those of N4. This system has the potential of instant output in the form of Excel files in both Persian and English languages. It also can store large amounts of information and is suitable for epidemiological studies. Meanwhile, this system provides a user-friendly output in a printable version for the user, which can be used in nutrition clinics.

The present study led to the design of the Persian Food Composition that can be a suitable alternative to N4 software for dietary intake assessment in research and clinical practice. It has the capability to add food items for each city and can be used in all cities of Iran.