5 January 2011

Using technology to manage your diet.

A number of companies are developing technology to help support people with allergies and coeliac disease. Applications are being developed for your phone to enable you to scan food products in supermarkets.

Sarah Sleet, Chief Executive of Coeliac UK said: “Coeliac UK sees the development of new technologies to support selection of the right food for 1 in 100 people in the UK who has coeliac disease (an autoimmune condition caused by intolerance to gluten) as a great opportunity to improve the quality of their everyday life.”

It is very important to make sure any information provided through such devices is of the highest quality and to consider various aspects before a purchase is made, including:

Will the tool give me information that isn’t easily found on the packaging?
Is the tool likely to recognise the brands and products I usually buy?
Will the tool tell me about cross contamination?
Will the tool recognise products with safe levels of gluten such as some malted cereals and vinegars?
How often is the data refreshed if product recipes change?
Who is responsible if the product doesn’t work?