A mobile App to snap your meal, check calorie value

Designed to devour, the masterly crafted cake looked deliciously inviting. But fitness freak Sabitha’s newly acquired calorie-consciousness wouldn’t let her fall into that culinary trap.

Whipping out her iPhone, she pressed on an App called “Snap a Meal.” In 10 minutes flat, the App had sent her quick snap of that cake to a dietician, got its nutritional value analysed and updated a customised calorie meter.

Based in Bangalore, a team of dieticians and diabetes specialist nutritionists had tracked that picture in real-time, and sent her the calorie values broken up into carbs, fat and proteins.

Sabitha glanced at the calorie meter and grabbed a quick bite, convinced that her rigorous weight control wouldn’t take a beating. The App, downloaded free on Apple store, had helped manage her weight and keep the blood sugar level in check.

DiabetaCare, a city-based diabetic management firm had launched the mobile App in August, last year. Available both on the Apple and Android platforms, the application has recorded over 8,000 downloads so far.

So here’s what you do to get the App. Download and install it from Google Play Store or Apple store; open the application to register with your mobile number; once registered and logged in, the display shows your profile with name.

Then click on the camera icon in the App, and select the meal timing and variety of food as listed. Click on the “Snap it” button to capture a meal picture. If the picture is already in your gallery, select that picture. In 10-15 minutes, the built in calorie meter gets updated with the number of calories for that particular meal / snack.

The high density of diabetic patients of all age groups had pushed DiabetaCare to launch the App. The firm’s chief nutritionist, Tara Murali explains, “Before type-2 diabetes used to be found only among those in the 40 plus age group.

Today, even those in their early 20’s are diagnosed with this condition. This app helps in awareness, and if the calorie meter reading gets into the red area it motivates the user to choose the right kind of food and make appropriate lifestyle modifications. The app works as easy as taking a selfie on your phone.”

For registered patients, Diabetacare had also come up with a glucometre data card system to track blood sugar levels and blood pressure. Equipped with a SIM card that acts like a data card, the glucometer sends the recorded data to a database.

A team of doctors and diabetes specialised nurses evaluates the data and sends timely alerts to the patient.
DH News Service