Session on Affordable Healthcare & Allied fields
Nutritracs- Calories on the Go: Mobile Health Monitoring
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Dharini Krishnan |
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Profile
Dr.Dharini is a registered dietician with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Food, Nutrition and Dietetics. She also holds a Ph.D degree with specialization in Food, Nutrition & Dietetics. In addition to the above, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education and a diploma in Software Systems Analysis & Design.
Presently she is the Chairperson of the Registered Dietitian Board (R.D.) of the Indian Dietetic Association. She is also Former National President of The Indian Dietetic Association. She is a Consultant Dietitian in her own Clinic, and also consults at hospitals. She frequently appears on T.V. and radio; giving call in programs on queries related to diet.
Her articles appear in the print media both English and vernacular. In newspapers and magazines. She recently presented the keynote address at the International Confederation of Dietetic Associations at Sydney in September 2012.
Her Achievements
Digest - A Personalised Diet Software, was developed indigenously, and is being used by Dietitians, both as Consultants and in hospitals.
Had Developed a Health Website – it was the first of its kind in India. It helped individuals and patients, maintain good health through analysis of exercise and diet regimens. It is currently non operable.
Developed an application for the Android mobile phone on diet and exercise – Nutritracs – Calories on the go
Abstract
India is a country which is dubiously emerging as the global capital for cardiac disease and stands second for Diabetes (World Diabetes Federation. 2010). Changing lifestyles have contributed to this. Changing eating habits, lack of physical activity and the screen age (computer, smart phones and TV) has led to this. The medical experts in the country are worried that there are not going to be enough hospitals and specialized doctors to handle the huge number of people who are going to fall a prey to these disease conditions. These diseases not only affect the urban but also have started affecting both the metro and rural population of India. Diabetes, specifically used to be termed as a disease of the rich and senior citizens, have spread among the adolescents and young adults in recent times. Prevention would be the way forward and for which a lot of awareness has to be created in the public related to health. Special focus has to be given to diet and exercise as the key regulators of health.
In this context to use a smart phone as a useful device to monitor health would be a step forward. Combining the skill sets of a practicing Dietitian and a computer programmer, the result is the emergence of an Application for Android telephones –Nutritracs, which is an ‘application’ to check calories on the go. One could assess their Calorie In and Calorie Out using this App. The advanced version allows assessing more nutrients for specific conditions like diabetes and cardiac disease.
Currently the App has been used to assess the diets of employees in the Southern Railways for a project related to Obesity. It is being used by people in the IT sector to track what they eat throughout the day. Currently the App can be used on Android phones which can be downloaded from the Google play or using a link from any other Internet browser.
When a person enters a few personal details the Recommended Daily Allowance is calculated. As the food taken is entered it displays the calories for the food and the balance of the calories available for the day. When the exercise is done and an entry is made it displays the calorie expended. So as people enter the input of calories and expended calories it displays a net amount available. This can be used by weight watchers, people with diabetes or cardiac disease. Such products if used properly can make people aware of the amount of calories they can go wrong if they overeat certain food items, which are commonly available on the go. Otherwise people think if they walk for one hour they can eat what they want through the rest of the day.
