Monash University Malaysia takes on global diet tracking system

Intake 24 project

Researchers from the Monash University’s Action Lab visited Malaysian campus in July 2022 to celebrate the transnational collaboration.

Monash is launching Intake24 Malaysia, the University's domestic arm for the leading global diet tracking system.

Intake24 is a self-completed computerised 24-hour dietary recall tool that allows users to log their food intake and receive downloadable nutritional feedback. It is a web-based alternative to the traditional systems, which involve laborious and costly pen and paper-based methods such as food diaries and face-to-face interviews. Intake24 reduces costs while lessening the burden on researchers and participants.

Catering to the local population, Intake24 Malaysia will collect data to improve public health through better surveillance and research measures and systems that compare the dietary intakes of Malaysians against the Malaysian Dietary Guidelines – focusing on nutrients of public interest such as sugars and saturated fats.

The system will be able to translate the text into local languages, including Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. In addition, it will expand the food range to include regional cuisines, alongside corresponding visuals of the portion size estimation and data for food composition analysis. The prototype will be validated through interviewer-led, 24-hour recalls with 400 participants of different ages, ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, locations and gender representations within the Malaysian population.

Intake24 Malaysia currently involves over 12 researchers across Malaysia and Australia campuses.

Monash University Malaysia

  • Dr Amutha Ramadas– Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine and Health Sciences
  • Dr Jessica Watterson – Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine and Health Sciences
  • Dr Chong Chun Wie – Senior Lecturer, School of Pharmacy

Monash University

  • Professor Patrick Olivier – Director, Action Lab
  • Dr Emma Foster – Adjunct Senior Research Fellow
  • Dr Dinislam Abdulgalimov – Senior Research Engineer
  • Dr Tracy McCaffrey - Senior Lecturer of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food

University of Cambridge

  • Polly Page – Programme Director, MRC Epidemiology Unit
  • Toni Steer – Senior Nutritionist, Nutrition Measurement Platform, MRC Epidemiology Unit
  • Birdem Amoutzopoulos – Nutritionist, Cambridge Nutrition Measurement Platform, MRC Epidemiology Unit
  • David Collins – Senior Statistician, MRC Epidemiology Unit

Once developed, there are plans to adapt the model to other ASEAN countries.

Created in the UK by Dr Foster and Professor Olivier and used for the country's National Diet and Nutrition Surveys, Intake24 has since expanded its impact and gets redeveloped in different locations across the globe, such as United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Denmark and South Asia.

Meanwhile in Australia, the Action Lab, comprises a multidisciplinary team of impact-focused researchers, will partner with the Australian Bureau of Statistics to use Intake24 in the National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey.