US-based restaurant nutrition company Healthy Dining has secured funding to develop its MyMenu diabetes management technology system in partnership with Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute.
Healthy Dining received the funding through the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.
The project, ‘Dining with Diabetes: Personalised Technology for Self Management’, will focus on developing and evaluating a range of MyMenu web and mobile tools.
Depending on diners’ health goals and personal preferences, these tools will offer personalised recommendations for restaurants, menu items, and nutritional information.
Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute corporate vice-president Athena Philis-Tsimikas said: “One of the most common requests we get from our patients living with type 2 diabetes is for help with their daily food choices and nutrition information.
“MyMenu offers a personalised mobile approach to food choices while dining out that can empower our patients to choose the best menu items when eating in restaurants.
“Testing this approach will provide much-needed evidence on easier and more effective ways to provide this valuable information to people with diabetes.”
The research focuses on qualitative assessments and focus groups with type 2 diabetes patients, and key informant interviews with certified diabetes educators, as well as menu tracking chosen by participants while dining out for four weeks during phase one of the project.
The second phase will focus on expanding the phase one objectives and measure eating behaviour change and health improvement based on food orders tracked through the MyMenu platform.