Accuracy of dietary intake assessments using food records based on photographic images captured by visually impaired people.

Traditional methods to assess dietary intake have limited and questionable application in visually impaired people since the lack of vision and low leading role in their diet make it difficult to quantify and detail the food consumed throughout the day. Thus, this study investigated whether it is possible to accurately identify foods and estimate their quantities using food records based on photographic images captured by visually impaired people. A panel of experts composed of nutritionists (n = 20) assessed these records comprising three standardized meals (breakfast; lunch/dinner; snack) from visually impaired people (n = 40) using two different protocols (frontal photo; aerial photo). Each nutritionist reported an estimated food record for each photographic image, which was compared to its respective weighed food record. For both frontal and aerial photos, experts were frequently correct for the number of food items in the meal (95.0% or over for breakfast, 100% for lunch/dinner, and 100% for snacks). All experts identified at least 11 of the 13 food items, but the majority correctly estimated the food amount only for 23% of the items. Compared to the weighed food record, the photographic records underestimated the amount of 61.5% of food items based on frontal photos, and of 76.9% of food items based on aerial photos. While most foods could be identified by photographic images captured by visually impaired people enabling a qualitative assessment of the diet, they could not be quantified accurately by nutritionists.

Nutrição inclusiva: (re)conhecendo os caminhos da inclusão na prática do nutricionista / Inclusive nutrition: (re)acknowledging the paths of inclusion in the practice of the nutritionist

Os debates sobre o acolhimento das diversidades e a inclusão de grupos populacionais em maior situação de vulnerabilidade na área da saúde têm sido crescentes em âmbito nacional e internacional. No Brasil, a trajetória da Nutrição Inclusiva foi impulsionada no início na década de 2000, e atualmente é definida como a forma de exercer a profissão na qual o nutricionista utiliza todos os recursos disponíveis para promover a inclusão, a saúde e a segurança alimentar e nutricional de pessoas em situação de vulnerabilidade, por meio de ações oportunas e ajustadas às singularidades desses sujeitos, tendo como base o acolhimento, o respeito à diversidade, a acessibilidade e o estímulo à autonomia. Atravessa todas as áreas de atuação e cenários de prática do nutricionista, com foco na produção de novos modos de cuidar e novas formas de organizar o trabalho que visem à segurança alimentar e nutricional e à justiça social. Assim, os saberes que vêm sendo construídos nessa direção devem ser incorporados pelo profissional desde a sua formação até a sua prática cotidiana, visando beneficiar direta e/ou indiretamente a saúde e a nutrição dos grupos populacionais em maior situação de vulnerabilidade.

Debates on embracing diversity and the inclusion of more vulnerable populations in the health area have been growing at the national and international levels. In Brazil, the trajectory of Inclusive Nutrition was pushed forward at the beginning of the 2000s and is currently defined as a practice in which the nutritionist uses all available resources to promote inclusion, health, food safety, and nutrition of vulnerable populations through timely actions adjusted to their singularities, based on acceptance, respect for diversity, accessibility, and encouragement of autonomy. It extends over all the areas of action and practice of the nutritionist, focusing on the production of new ways of caring and of organizing work aimed at food and nutritional security and social justice. Thus, the knowledge that has been built in this direction must be incorporated by professionals, from their training to their daily practice, aiming to directly and/or indirectly benefit the health and nutrition of vulnerable populations.

Development and validation of protocols for photographed food record by visually impaired people.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate protocols for photographed food record directed to visually impaired people. DESIGN: Photographic techniques were established for capturing food images using a smartphone, and written protocols were defined. Thereafter, visually impaired people made photographic records of three standardised meals (breakfast, lunch/dinner, and snack) following the previously developed protocols. These photographs were then evaluated by a panel of experts (nutritionists and photographer) to indicate whether the framing, focus and angle were suitable to identify the food type, food amount and portion size. Agreement between the experts was assessed using Fleiss' Kappa. SETTING: Natal, the capital of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. PARTICIPANTS: Visually impaired people (n 40); nutritionists (n 2); professional photographer (n 1). RESULTS: Both protocols obtained a high proportion of satisfactory photos for all the items in the three dimensions investigated. When overall quality was assessed, the experts' agreement was a substantial that through the images it would be possible to identify the food type and portion size, both for Frontal Photos (k = 0·70 and k = 0·62, respectively) and Aerial Photos (k = 0·68 and k = 0·70, respectively). The degree of agreement that the photos presented a satisfactory global quality was moderate for the Frontal Photo (k = 0·43) and substantial for the Aerial Photo (k = 0·64). Participants who frequently used smartphone-type cell phones obtained better quality images for all these attributes for both protocols. CONCLUSIONS: The protocols for photographed food record developed for visually impaired people in this study are feasible and present themselves as an alternative strategy to qualitatively assess their dietary intake.