New research shows that combining different methods — from wearable cameras to analysing dietary biomarkers — could be the most reliable picture of what people eat.
In a review published in ‘Nature Food’, an international team of scientists highlights long‑standing problems with traditional self‑reported dietary tools, which often rely on memory and guesswork and place a heavy time burden on participants.
These limitations make it difficult for researchers and policymakers to reliably link diet with health outcomes, and to understand how diets are changing in response to global sustainability challenges.
The review brings together emerging evidence from nutrition science, metabolomics, microbiome research, computer vision and sensor technologies.
Dr Thomas Wilson, from Aberystwyth University’s Department of Life Sciences and a co‑author on the review, said:
“Accurately capturing what people eat and drink is one of the biggest challenges in nutrition research. Traditional methods rely heavily on self‑reporting, which we know is imprecise. By integrating modern tools – such as biological biomarkers and digitally assisted reporting – we can dramatically improve accuracy while reducing the burden on participants. This opens the door to much more reliable research and helps us better understand the role of diet in long‑term health.”
The paper highlights new technological advances, from wearable cameras that capture meals in real time, identifying foods and estimating portion sizes with the help of artificial intelligence, and smartphone apps that prompt users to reduce memory‑related errors.
The authors also highlight biomarkers of food intake (BFIs) as a promising advancement in dietary assessment. BFIs detect chemicals in urine, blood or poo that correspond to specific foods or dietary patterns, offering objective insights into what people have eaten.
The authors emphasise that no single technology can solve all the challenges of dietary assessment. Instead, they propose an integrated, flexible framework that can be tailored to different research settings – from controlled dietary interventions to large‑scale population studies.
The authors argue that emerging dietary assessment tools will be essential for advancing precision nutrition, improving dietary recommendations, and supporting evidence‑based policies for human and planetary health.
Dr Wilson added:
“As we confront global challenges – from rising diet‑related diseases to the need for more sustainable diets – getting a clearer picture of what people truly eat is crucial. The technologies now emerging give us a real opportunity to build the next generation of dietary assessment and, ultimately, to support healthier lives and food systems.”
The international research was led by scientists from the University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with Aberystwyth University, Medical University of Graz, the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Wageningen University & Research.
Meanwhile, scientists are recruiting adults from across the UK to take part in a groundbreaking trial to accurately track what they eat and drink in their daily lives.
The findings of their research could pave the way for better public health strategies to tackle diseases linked to poor diets such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
In their bid to find more reliable ways of tracking people’s diet, researchers are using a combination of innovative tools – including wearable cameras, blood monitoring devices and metabolomic analysis of urine samples, combined with apps for self-reporting.
The SODIAT-2 study is part of a wider five-year research project led by Aberystwyth University in collaboration with experts at the University of Reading, the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London.
A total of 133 adults are being recruited from all parts of the UK to take part in a five-week programme monitoring exactly what they eat and drink.
Dr Manfred Beckmann, lead Principal Investigator from the Department of Life Sciences at Aberystwyth University said:
“One of the problems facing nutrition researchers is getting a true picture of people’s eating habits. To date, most studies have relied on participants remembering and recording the details of their meals but memory can be unreliable and hence the data is not always robust. Additionally, people often change their diet when they know they’re being observed.
“By developing a new methodology, we aim to get a much more accurate record of people’s diets which will help inform how governments and policy makers assess the success of efforts to improve people’s health and give better dietary advice.”
The research is funded by a £2.5 million grant provided by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
