GLOBAL CHALLENGES

Two Paths to Better Food Supply, Choices

Dennis McCafferty | Date: 09-02-10 | Comments

A pair of entirely separate tech solutions are finding ways to improve the quality of what we eat.

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Two Paths to Better Food Supply, Choices - MyFoodAdvisor Helps Users Make Better Choices
� Better nutritional decisions with a better online tool. From the consumer side, the American Diabetes Association and Siteworx, a Reston, Va.-based Web-content management and analytics agency, have come up with the recently launched MyFoodAdvisor.com, an interactive Web portal that enables users to make better decisions about what they eat. In addition to controlling diabetes, the site helps users lower weight, cholesterol and blood pressure.

MyFoodAdvisor.com allows users to make educated choices about the food they consume.

MyFoodAdvisor.com can cross-analyze more than 5,000 food choices and 20 dietary criteria so that users can compare and contrast their own menu options with the impact on health factors such as calorie intake, as well as projected levels of carbohydrates, saturated fats, fiber and sodium content. With "Create a Dish," users build and analyze their own culinary creations. The "My Goals" tool enables users to determine their meal-planning needs while tracking their progress over time. They can even use the portal to create weekly meal plans, search and share new recipes, and build custom-shopping lists.

"Our mission as an organization is to improve the lives of those affected by diabetes," says Stephanie A. Dunbar, director of Nutrition and Clinical Affairs for the association. "One way to accomplish this is by improving access to user-friendly online tools that help identify healthier food choices. Just telling someone to 'eat healthier' doesn't help unless you show them what is healthier."