RESUMO

In the last decade, we have seen a substantial increase in the development and use of mobile technology to improve diet and healthy eating behaviors. OBJECTIVE: To describe the characteristics of nutrition and diet apps before and after the COVID-19 pandemic available in Brazil. METHODS: Nutrition and diet apps were identified using the official Apple and Google stores. The search occurred in January 2020 and May 2022 in Brazil. We extracted the nutritional content and standard indicators (e.g., being developed before or after 2020, number of languages, target population, investment, prices, seller, number of reviews and downloads, consumer rating). RESULTS: 280 apps were launched before and 411 during the COVID-19 period. Most apps were available in at least ten languages (96.6%), with no indication of age (95.6%) or partial or full cost (59%). As for the contents, 18.9% addressed personal diet suggestions; 73.4%, nutritional education; 48.8%, revenues; 35.9%, physical activity with a nutritional guide; 2.3%, nutritional recommendation for eating out; 23.9%, grocery shopping with a scan code; 32.4%, food diary; 18.9%, water intake; and 4.6%, nutrition/diseases. The data show an evolution that may have been boosted by the pandemic and that reveals a trend towards the development of apps with educational content. CONCLUSION: During the pandemic, there was a positive qualitative and quantitative movement in e-health regarding the promotion of education.

Assuntos

COVID-19 , Pandemias , Humanos , Brasil/epidemiologia , COVID-19/epidemiologia , COVID-19/prevenção & controle , Dieta , Estado Nutricional

RESUMO

School meals should focus on quality of life issues, particularly on reducing food shortages, overweight, obesity and its consequences. As an essential tool for quality assurance, creating the menu is an activity of great complexity and requires multidisciplinary knowledge. This activity covers the observation of countless aspects of quality, highlighting nutritional, sensory, cultural, hygienic, and sanitary issues, among others. This study aims to identify and analyze instruments and methods to evaluate school menus in different countries. The authors developed specific search strategies for Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, Pubmed, Lilacs, ProQuest Global, and Google Scholar. The included studies' methodological quality was assessed using the statistical analysis and meta-analysis review tool (MASTARI). A total of 16 cross-sectional studies met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. Brazil and Spain were the countries that presented the highest number of studies (n = 5; 31.25% for each). The majority of the studies have a qualitative approach (n = 12, 75%), and only 25% (n = 4) of the studies present quantitative assessment methods to evaluate school menus. No school menu assessment tools were found to assess all aspects of menu planning. The results show a lack of a methodology or of instruments for evaluating the menus offered for school meals that can contribute to better dietary care offered to students.