Nutrition Informatics

Nutrition and Informatics – are two primarily important terms that have started to come into use together for quite a long time since their integration is yielding great results. Nutrition Informatics is the effective retrieval, organization, storage, and optimum use of information, data and knowledge for food-and-nutrition-related problem-solving and decision-making. The incorporation of technology-driven behaviour changes in the field of nutrition is growing a lot more now. (1)

The fusion of nutrition, information and technology has made it very easy for the nutrition workforce, public health workers and professionals to collect and analyze data. It allows workers to efficiently execute and use their skills and knowledge on the field for better results. (2)

Various Nutrition Workforces

Worldwide there are numerous people in the public health domain who are dedicated and engaged to work in the nutrition sector.  This nutrition workforce is responsible for promoting the holistic and optimal health of people through the implementation of  various programs, policies and plans. The knowledge and experience that the nutrition workforce uses, help to form interpersonal and individual interventions. They aim to get behaviour changes to improve health outcomes in society. There are many examples of such a workforce, like the diabetic workforce – which works on the nutrition of diabetic patients and reversing this lifestyle disease, and many more. Globally, the nutrition workforce should address interventions at three levels, namely – primary, secondary and tertiary to mitigate many health concerns like obesity, malnutrition, maternal and child health, diabetes, cancer, heart attacks and many more. (3)

Role of NI ( Nutrition Informatics ) in the nutrition workforce

The introduction of nutrition informatics has proven to be an asset and a boon for the nutrition workforce. Since everything today is digitalizing, it indeed has been an amazing step for even nutrition to introduce itself to technology and AI since now the tremendous hard work which used to be required for paperwork and records, has become smart work now by using technological tools. the Health Information Technology for Economic and Child Health Act (HITECH) has provided an opportunity for all the healthcare organizations and nutrition workforce to stop using paper to record all health data of patients on paper by shifting to EHR or Electronic Health Records for the same. This increases the efficiency of work by reducing the risks of errors. (4) In addition to this, a systematic review by Garg et al. found that the majority of the reviewed EHRs improved clinicians’ performance in drug prescribing and dosing, preventative care, and disease management. (5)

Especially in the field of nutrition and dietetics, in order to maintain ease and professional standards, the incorporation of nutrition informatics has become a must. Its usage will increased data accuracy, patient care and the quality of healthcare provided.  (4)

The American Dietetic Association (now the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics) defined NI as a speciality in the sector of nutrition and dietetics since it aims to integrate science, evidence-based practice, research, computer knowledge, and expertise in electronic information systems for the purpose of supporting optimal nutritional status and health for professionals and workers. Nutrition informatics was applied to develop, store, retrieve and disseminate information and data to the Accreditation Standards for Nutrition and Dietetics Internship Programs. (1)

The use of EMRs or Electronic Medical Records in clinical settings was one of the most useful initiatives by NI. This helped to maintain the privacy and security of all the patient information in medical records and its importance was recognised by The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. (1)

Biomedical informatics applications, which help in nutrition care and metabolic control, also contribute to potentially improving the quality and efficiency of nutrition management. Wearable devices have become increasingly popular for exercise prescription, monitoring daily physical activity and nutrition, and managing health-related parameters, providing a constant stream of physiological and metabolic data for non-communicable disease (NCD) management. While the benefits of lifestyle-based interventions for NCDs are well known, the potential of wearable devices to promote healthy behaviors in clinical populations is still controversial. This review discusses the current application of wearable devices in NCDs, highlighting their role in prescribing and monitoring daily physical activity and dietary habits in people living with chronic diseases. Although limited studies have incorporated monitoring of both physical activity and nutrition for NCDs, there is evidence that such devices have helped improve physical activity levels, physical fitness, body composition, and metabolic and psychological parameters. The authors believe that the benefits obtained from the use of wearable devices are likely to translate to public health and represent one of the important tools for the development of prevention plans in everyday life and clinical practice for optimal patient management. Computer systems in the nutrition sector improved weight loss of people, addressed malnutrition, blood glucose values, clinical efficiency etc. (5)

Clinical decision support or CDS which is also a health information technology has shown improvement in the practitioner’s performance as well. Jaspers et al. concluded that CDS systems have a positive effect on provider performance regarding drug prescribing and preventive reminders. (5)

Conclusion

Nutrition Informatics has time and again proved to be an angel in disguise to elevate and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the nutrition workforce to yield positive repercussions. Not only the clinicians but even patients are given advantages.

Ongoing research and studies in this field are yielding more relevant and tailored technological tools to be used in the field of nutrition and dietetics which will further enhance the functioning of public health as a whole, not only in India but globally as well.

References

  1. Joshi, A., Gaba, A., Thakur, S., & Grover, A. (2021, May 27). Need and importance of Nutrition Informatics in India: A perspective. MDPI. Retrieved March 2, 2023, from //www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/6/1836
  2. Acta Scientific. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2023, from //actascientific.org/
  3. El-Kour, T. Y., Kelley, K., Bruening, M., Robson, S., Vogelzang, J., Yang, J., & Jimenez, E. Y. (2021, July). Dietetic Workforce Capacity Assessment for Public Health Nutrition and Community Nutrition. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Retrieved March 2, 2023, from //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7577731/
  4. Bell, A. (n.d.). Nutrition Informatics: Information Technology Transition for registered dieticians. UTHSC Digital Commons. Retrieved March 2, 2023, from //dc.uthsc.edu/hiimappliedresearch/7/
  5. North, J. C., Jordan, K. C., Metos, J., & Hurdle, J. F. (2015, November 5). Nutrition Informatics Applications in Clinical Practice: A systematic review. AMIA … Annual Symposium proceedings. AMIA Symposium. Retrieved March 2, 2023, from //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4765562/

Affiliation:

  1. Dean and Distinguished University Professor at School of Public Health, University of Memphis, TN, USA
  2. Foundation of Healthcare Technologies Society, New Delhi, India