Electronic dietary recording system improves nutrition knowledge, eating attitudes and habitual physical activity: A randomised controlled trial

Objective: This study's objective was to investigate whether use of an electronic dietary recording system improves nutrition knowledge, eating attitudes and habitual physical activity levels compared to use of a food diary and no self-monitoring. Methods: Sixty adults aged 20-60 with a body mass index. 25 were recruited and randomly assigned to one of three groups: a group using an electronic system (EG), a group using a food diary (FD) and a control group using nothing (CG) to record food intake. All participants took part in three 60-90 nutrition seminars and completed three questionnaires on general nutrition knowledge, habitual physical activity levels and eating attitudes at the beginning and end of the 12-week study. The pre- and post-test scores for each questionnaire were analysed using a paired sample t-test. Results: Significant improvements in the domain of 'dietary recommendations' were found in the EG (p=0.009) and FD groups (p=0.046). Great improvements were found in 'sources of nutrients', 'choosing everyday foods' and 'diet-disease relationships' in EG and FD groups. EG group showed greater improvement in the work index and sport index. Conclusion: An electronic dietary recording system may improve eating and exercise behaviour in a self-monitoring process.