If you search online to see how people are using artificial intelligence (AI) tools, ChatGPT, etc., you can quickly see that food requests are popular. More specifically, users are looking for help with menu planning to meet their personal dietary goals.
But how effective is this technology in providing dietary advice? 3 out of 5 consumers They agreed that they wanted to eat healthier. About 73% feel it is important to buy foods that have a low environmental impact.
A substandard diet is Leading Cause of Chronic Disease and Death In the world. Additionally, one-third of man-made greenhouse gas emissions are food-related. Against this backdrop, it is clear that help is needed to achieve the goal-to-action transformation.
however, 19.9% of Europeans Individuals living with self-reported food allergies must align all dietary decisions with protecting themselves from side effects. This has the following costs: Average amount spent on food purchases each week For people with food sensitivities, it is 12-27% higher than for people without allergies. In addition, he needs 40.37 days for an allergic person to research and plan his diet.
So while AI has the potential to help many families eat healthier, for people with food allergies, the consequences of a mistake can be life-threatening.Concern over consumption of purportedly healthy foods is growing Ingredients such as coconut oilit is very important that nutrition experts help inform these technical solutions.
How can AI help?
Canadian scholar using certain types of AI, known as natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning, to process food label text. This is done to accurately classify foods based on specific nutritional criteria.
Such standards include the reference weight tables for food categories used by Health Canada (the health policy arm of the Government of Canada) and the nutrient profiling system of the Australia and New Zealand Food Standards Authority, the authority that sets food standards for both Oceania countries. included. This study showed that technology can be used to reduce the time required to manually sort large numbers of food items.
Commercial products using technology in this way already exist.An example of this is a company food maestro. The company I am involved with is master of the spoonhas been working with retailers around the world for eight years, helping them facilitate food searches and feature searches within online grocery shopping platforms using an AI system co-developed with registered dietitians. increase.
In the field of generative AI, large-scale language models (LLM) and machine learning are used to not only identify words in text, but also understand their order and context to provide human-like answers to text-based prompts. produces a response like
AI chatbots such as Chat GPT use this technology to synthesize information, summarize text, and answer questions. It can be used to provide customized menu plans, generate recipe ideas, create shopping lists, and more.
chatbot test
Early expert reviews of using Chat GPT for menu planning and meal advice yielded mixed results. the study An evaluation of the chatbot’s ability to create meal plans for people with allergies found that 1 unsafe plan containing almond milk in a nut-free meal plan was generated out of 56 meals. .
There were other errors as well. For example, there was an error in the way food quantities and energy values were listed, and the same food items were used repeatedly within the menu plan.
in the review Regarding ChatGPT’s potential for personalized obesity treatment, the authors expressed concerns about patient privacy and security. They also noted the lack of accountability when harmful advice was provided. These models are not currently required to adhere to professional standards or ethical codes.
Dietitian Tests Your ChatGPT Ability To define the ideal diet for patients with type 2 diabetes or those undergoing hemodialysis, a treatment for renal failure. They also found a mistake. The chatbot responded with suboptimal foods for these conditions without warning. The menu plan was again repetitive, and the authors expressed concern that such a solution might discourage users from consulting qualified medical professionals.
Due to the lack of references to the sources used to generate the answer, we were unable to verify whether the answer was of scientific quality. cardiologist We tested advice generated by ChatGPT on its specialty, the link between dietary fat and cardiovascular disease. He felt that the responses misunderstood the findings and repeatedly introduced errors and contradictions in a tone that was described as wise, confident, and persuasive.
ethical implications
Despite clear signs of caution, some early reviews also point to the strengths and potential of AI to provide personalized nutrition advice. ChatGPT responses are often consistent with published food-based dietary guidelines. For example, the chatbot included fruits and vegetables in all meals and included recommendations such as “It’s important to read labels carefully” and “Consult a medical professional.”
A more thorough understanding of the ethical implications, safety and quality of the technology is needed before it is used in these specialties. However, customers and patients may choose to use it regularly regardless.
Technologies like ChatGPT can be seen as useful tools for nutritionists and registered dietitians to quickly find information about foods and inform their work.
Academics studying the relationship between food and health also use AI to Save time or develop an innovative approach to their research. This could help increase research impact and increase access to research in ways that benefit society.
Policy makers, regulators and those working in the food industry are very concerned about the health and sustainability of food. They are also interested in how advice in this area is conveyed to the general public.
Tools like ChatGPT represent a whole new dimension of information and misinformation about food and health. Addressing this is critical to ensuring that dietary advice is communicated accurately, safely and transparently.
The use of this technology could greatly increase the likelihood that the general public will receive personalized dietary advice. It may also help address the barriers individuals face in achieving their health goals.
However, safety must come first. Nutrition experts, traceable sources of scientifically robust information, and quality assurance processes should be central to the development and implementation of any use of such technology to provide dietary advice. there is.
Daniel McCarthyEmeritus Professor of Practice, Queen’s University Belfast, Queen’s University Belfast
This article is reprinted from conversation Under Creative Commons License.read Original work.
