Design and usability of Abu Dhabi Food Intake24: a culturally adapted digital 24-hour dietary recall for the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Background Standardized dietary assessment tools are essential for evaluating population diets, eating patterns, and their relationships with health. Although digital dietary assessment tools can support more standardized and efficient dietary data collection, they require appropriate cultural adaptation to be applicable in different populations. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the lack of a culturally appropriate digital 24-h dietary recall tool limits standardized dietary assessment for nutrition research and population surveys. Objective To develop a culturally adapted digital 24-h dietary recall application for the UAE population’s eating practices. Methods Abu Dhabi Food Intake24 (ADINTAKE24) is a tablet-optimized, Android-based application. It collects survey questionnaires and 24-h dietary recall data, calculates nutrient intake, and compares the results with the recommendations. The ADINTAKE24 uses the multiple-pass method that integrates food composition data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), regional, and local sources. UAE-specific food photographs aid in estimating food portion sizes. The application is available in Arabic and English and includes a web-based administrative interface. The system was iteratively developed and tested under field conditions during a large community-based nutrition survey. A pilot survey with families informed system refinement, followed by usability assessment among 35 trained interviewers using the System Usability Scale (SUS). Results After initial development, the tool was piloted with 98 participants from 39 households using an interviewer-administered approach. Challenges identified during the pilot study included problems with saving and searching for food items in the food composition databases on the server during field data collection. Refinements were made based on the tool’s feedback to improve its functionality. The mean System Usability Scale (SUS) score was 69.9 (95% CI: 66.0–73.9; SD = 11.6). Conclusion Abu Dhabi Food Intake24 addresses a key gap in digital dietary assessment in the UAE. Further usability evaluation of the finalized application and validation for self-administered use are needed before wider implementation.