Digital dietician may help people make better choices

A brand new program that makes use of immersive digital actuality to fill the position of a digital dietitian might finally be capable of enhance the diet care course of, in line with a brand new evaluation.

This system—the Immersive Digital Alimentation and Vitamin Software (IVAN) software—was developed at Penn State and makes use of digital actuality headsets to assist make the consumer really feel like they’re talking to an actual nutritionist in an workplace setting. This system walks the consumer by means of interactive actions designed to show them about diet ideas like portion dimension and calorie density.

A staff of seven specialists, together with registered dietitians and schooling specialists, evaluated the IVAN program throughout 14 completely different domains, together with navigation, diet schooling content material, and relevance of the tutorial content material.

“This system scored extremely throughout all 14 domains,” mentioned Travis Masterson, assistant professor of dietary sciences and director of the Well being, Ingestive Conduct, and Know-how lab at Penn State, “which suggests it was acquired positively total and the specialists felt it will be helpful to customers.”

The domains through which this system scored greatest had been 1) devoted viewpoints, which means it appeared to replicate an actual atmosphere; 2) the relevance of academic content material, which means that the tutorial materials was helpful; and three) shut coordination of motion and illustration, which means that the interactions with the meals felt sensible.

The evaluation was lately revealed within the Journal of Vitamin Schooling and Conduct.

In line with the researchers, the power to make good decisions about diet is a vital talent to have, however high-quality science-backed data is tough to come back by within the fashionable media.

“Registered dietitians are skilled to assist people enhance their diets and are capable of meet and work with folks to enhance their every day habits in a really individualized and private means,” Masterson mentioned. “However they typically find yourself spending a big portion of their visits educating fundamental diet ideas, which isn’t all the time an efficient use of their time or abilities.”

Masterson mentioned that sooner or later, this system might be able to save clinics each money and time whereas releasing up the time of their registered dieticians to spend extra time offering individualized suggestions and focused purpose setting. Moreover, it offers customers a enjoyable and fascinating expertise that may enhance their data.

“This system offers customers a practical expertise that’s doubtless to enhance their abilities extra than simply watching a slideshow presentation or studying a pamphlet,” Masterson mentioned. “Along with scientific settings, we additionally hope to have the ability to distribute the IVAN program broadly sooner or later to be used in faculties and even at house.”