new phone-diet service

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Mobile phones to tell consumers what to eat

By Hills

09-Sep-2008 -

A new mobile phone service which sends out customized meal suggestions

at the time of purchase could also encourage people to buy foods such as

those high in fiber or Omega-3, according to industry commentators.

The WebDiet smartphone-based service, to be rolled out this year, offers

dietary recommendations sent throughout the day to suit the users' diet

goals, such as low carb, low sodium, vegetarian or kosher, taking into

account what they've already eaten.

Ewa Hudson, health and wellness industry manager, Euromonitor

International, told FoodNavigator-USA.com: " I think this would work but

it would have to be quite personalized and customized because it is very

specific information that people are looking for.

" There is a big drive for heart health and brain health foods and there

is a big interest in weight management at the same time. "

She said that, depending on people's needs, it could tell them if they

have had enough fiber or Omega-3, as well as how many calories of fat

they could consume whilst staying within the recommendations of their

diet plan.

Hudson added: " Then some people would go and buy these products to

consume the additional elements they are short of. "

The development is the latest in several attempts to use technology to

inform consumers about diet.

Weight Watchers has just announced the launch of its own mobile service.

It offers online subscribers " free access to the same weight loss

planning and tracking tools that help them stay on track, from any

location, at anytime on a supported mobile device " .

Another innovative step was the introduction of a camera-phone by

Canadian company MyFoodPhone. This enabled individuals to take pictures

of their food and receive feedback on their choices from nutrition

coaches and advisors

It was also reported today that food packaging could be embedded with

computer chips that instantly link mobile phones to an on-line

sustainable food guide, according to the BBC.

The guides would help consumers make ethical and ecological decisions

about what they eat, food policy expert Professor Tim Lang told the

British Association Science Festival.

This would include issues such as how much energy and water were used to

produce each calorie of food and what the impact of the food is on

climate.

Health concerns

More Americans now believe they are overweight, according to a recent

study in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. It said an estimated

25.6 percent of US adults reported being obese in 2007, compared to 23.9

percent in 2005 which is an increase of 1.7 percent.

Craig Gold, CEO and co-founder of WebDiet, Inc, said: " Now with fast

food popularity growing and our overweight and obesity epidemic on the

rise in America, helping people to eat smarter is an urgent task.

" Everyone knows our health depends largely on the choices we make in

what we eat, and how much we eat.

" Research proves that keeping track of what we eat is the best method of

losing weight. WebDiet not only makes keeping track easy to do, we go a

step further, giving users dynamic real-time meal recommendations based

on their daily intake requirements and diet goals. "

Users can select from restaurant and chain-specific meals, standardized

meals available by food type and grocery stores, meals made at home, or

from WebDiet's collection of custom meal healthy low-calorie

alternatives.

WebDiet Inc says it has multiple patent-pending technologies and its new

service it to launch by invitation only this month before being rolled

out.

S. Kalman PhD, RD, CCRC, FACN

Miami Research Associates

Director, Nutrition & Applied Clinical Research

6141 Sunset Drive #301

Miami, FL. 33143

(fax)

www.miamiresearch.com <http://www.miamiresearch.com>