The use of dietary supplements among people is persistently increasing. Consequently, pharmacists daily face a difficult task. With no quantitative nutrition status assessment of the patient, dietary supplements consulting can be unreliable; in this case, dietary records could be useful. The rapidly evolving technology caused the transition from time-consuming paper records to automatized electronic dietary records, which simplified the process of dietary self-monitoring, making it more user-friendly. Within the scope of this master's thesis, we evaluated the applicability of nutrition-related mobile applications to dietary supplements consulting. We assumed the role of an average individual with limited knowledge about nutrition and related fields. We selected ten nutrition-related mobile applications, which record dietary intake and calculate energy value and macronutrient content. Several of them estimate the value of certain vitamins and minerals as well. We decided to further examine the following parameters: the content of energy, protein, fat, carbohydrates, sodium, potassium, iron and vitamin C. We entered ten simple and ten complex food items in the selected mobile applications and showed variability between the said parameters by calculating the mean value deviation. Lastly, we recorded five lunches and calculated the deviation from values listed on the Lačna Bučka web page. The calculations show a lower variability of mobile applications in assessing energy values. The greatest range of values is characteristic of complex food items (from -56 to +70%) and the lowest range of values can be attributed to lunches (from -42 to +27%). Greater variability is perceived in assessing the content of macro- and micronutrients. Macronutrients show a greater range of values in simple food items (fat: from -100 to +789%), followed by complex food items (fat: from -94 to +231%) and lunches (carbohydrates: from -50 to +22%). The greatest range of values in terms of micronutrient content can be identified in simple food items (sodium: from -89 to +346%), followed by composite foodstuffs (sodium: from -100 to +120%) and lunches (sodium: -82 to +60%). Based on the proportion of the recommended daily intake, the greatest deviation can be perceived in simple food items (vitamin C: from -100 to +400%), followed by complex food items (iron: -100 to +180%) and lunches (iron: from -91 to +65%). To conclude, we may state that mobile applications in this particular form are not the optimal tool to assist pharmacists in dietary supplements consulting. Many improvements and upgrades, from science-supported information to a user-friendly approach, would be necessary to achieve a satisfying level of functionality.
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