11 Jul Easy way to modulate salt, sugar and oil when doing a food log
Quantities of both oil and salt can be highly variable among individuals. Especially when it comes to cooking, everyone has their own preferences. The same occurs with the amount of sugar one adds to its beverages (coffee, tea…), and some foods like plain yogurt. However, little quantities of those foods can considerably modify the caloric and nutritional value of a dish. That’s why, when monitoring the diet it is important to correctly report the consumption of salt, sugar and oil.
In LogMeal API there is a feature that allows to easily modulate salt, sugar and oil consumption. What does it include?
Specifying preferences of salt, sugar and oil consumption
When creating a new user profile, every user can specify their regular consumption of salt, sugar and oil. There are four options to choose from: “no salt/sugar/oil”, “a little”, “moderate”, “a lot”. (In the LogMeal API communication these are referred to as: “none”, “low”, “moderate”, “high”). These preferences will be taken into consideration when retrieving the nutritional information and ingredients detected in each consumption. Certainly, the user can modify their preferences at any time.
This image is an example of a form of visualization since it is the one we use in LogMeal APP. However, this API feature can be integrated into your own solution as desired.
For example, individuals with hypertension who are prescribed a low-sodium diet may check the “none” option. That way, all the recognised dishes won’t have any salt as an ingredient by default.
Users can also select the type of oil and sweetener they usually consume, which will be referred to as reference oil and reference sugar. If one is selected, any oils or added sugars in detected recipes will be replaced with the user’s preference.
This image is an example of a form of visualization since it is the one we use in LogMeal APP. However, this API feature can be integrated into your own solution as desired.
Types of sweeteners:
- Sugar
- Maple syrup
- Palm sugar
- Honey
- Molasses
- Artificial sweetener
- White sugar
- Brown sugar
- Panela
Types of oil/fat:
- Olive oil
- Oil
- Vegetable oil
- Canola oil
- Peanut oil
- Sunflower oil
- Coconut oil
- Butter
How to modify salt, sugar and oil for individual intakes
Apart from the preferences defined in the profile, the amount of salt, oil and sugar can be modulated as independent ingredients. Thus, when logging an intake, users are able to add, modify or delete the amount of those foods like any other.
This image is an example of a form of visualization since it is the one we use in LogMeal APP. However, this API feature can be integrated into your own solution as desired.
This feature helps users log their meals more accurately and, consequently, obtain reliable nutritional information. This feature is available in Monitor, Recommend and Custom Plans.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information.