Unhealthy diets are a critical global concern while dietary measure methods are time-consuming and expensive. There is limited evidence that phone-based interventions can improve nutrition data collection and dietary quality, especially for adolescents in low- and middle-income countries.
The project involves an interdisciplinary collaboration between the International Food Policy Research Institute, Plant Village at Penn State University, the University of Ghana, the National Institute of Nutrition and the Thai Nguyen National Hospital in Vietnam.
The Plant Village Food Recognition Assistance and Nudging Insights (FRANI) is a new artificial intelligence (A.I.)-assisted mobile phone application that aims at closing that evidence gap by being able to recognize foods, track food-group consumption, provide diet-related statistics, and gamified nudges to improve food consumption.
In 2021 the Nudging for Good Project team validated FRANI for dietary assessment in adolescent girls in Ghana and Viet Nam against weighed records, the gold standard for dietary assessment, and the standard multi-pass 24 hour-recall method. Results show that using FRANI to measure daily nutrient intake performs equally well, and in many cases even better than the 24hr-recall. In addition to the validation study, two randomized pilot studies have assessed the feasibility of FRANI and its effects on food choices of adolescent girls in Ghana and Viet Nam.
This work was undertaken by the Nudging for Good Project team including contributions from: Noora Aberman, Gabriel Ador, Alejandra Arrieta, Vicentia Adatze, Boateng Bannerman, Bianca C. Braga, Frank Doyle, Gloria Folson, Rohit Gangupantulu, Aulo Gelli, Nga Thu Hoang, David Hughes, Phuong Nam Huynh, Naureen Karachiwalla, Annalyse Kehs, Bastien Koch, Pete McCloskey, Phuong H Nguyen, Giordano Palloni, Marie Ruel, Lan Mai Tran, Trang Huyen Tran, Duong Thuy Trương, Sawudatu Zakariah-Akoto, and Hoodies pte. ltd for software development.
Outputs / Resources
Aulo Gelli
Senior Research Fellow
Phuong Hong Nguyen
Senior Research FellowBastien Koch
Research AnalystNaureen Karachiwalla
Research FellowGiordano Palloni
Nonresident Fellow
Feasibility of using an artificial intelligence based telephone application for dietary assessment and nudging to improve the quality of food choices of female adolescents in Vietnam: Evidence from a randomized pilot study
Validation of mobile artificial intelligence technology–assisted dietary assessment tool against weighed records and 24-hour recall in adolescent females in Ghana
Relative validity of a mobile AI-technology assisted dietary assessment in adolescent females in Vietnam
Exploring an artificial intelligence–based, gamified phone app prototype to track and improve food choices of adolescent girls in Vietnam: Acceptability, usability, and likeability study
A photographic food atlas with portion sizes of commonly consumed foods in Accra, Ghana
A photographic food atlas with portion sizes of commonly consumed foods in Thai Nguyen, Viet Nam
Design of a mobile phone-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) application to assess dietary intake and provide nudges to improve healthy eating choices: Formative research in Ghana and Vietnam