Hi all- I am currently developing an app that is meant to help guide users through the low-FODMAP diet.
Brief Description of the app: Our app will have a meal planning feature that will offer the user a wide range of delicious low-FODMAP recipes to choose from and then generate a shopping list for them. The recipes are all inspired by the motto "food as medicine" to ensure that the patient is both healthy and adhering to the diet. Additionally, the app with have a symptom tracker and guided support during the Rechallenging phase of the diet.
Some things I am curious about:
1) Given that the low FODMAP diet is very restrictive I am curious if anyone has tried the low-FODMAP diet and thinks it is realistic for patients to stick to a completely low-FODMAP diet for months?
2) What are your general thoughts about this app proposal and do you think it would be something you would use?
3) Finally, if you have tried the low-FODMAP diet: How did it go? What do you think would have made this an easier experience for you?
Appreciate any and all feedback, after all this app is being created to help improve the lives of those with IBS!
Written by
EvaRS
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I have small intestinal bacteria overgrowth (SIBO) which is 'lumped' in with IBS by most health care professionals.
Those who truly understand the condition (and there are few who do in the UK!) might argue that it ostensively different to IBD/IBS because it is centred around the small bowel and is due to an imbalance, or proliferation, of bacteria where this part of the GI tract is usually almost sterile.
I only mention this because my experiences may well be quite different to those with IBD/IBS, though I do have some colon dysbiosis too. I have experienced many symptom improvements since adopting a low FODMAP diet following a short course of narrow spectrum antibiotics.
Give that the principle problem with diet with regards to SIBO is that food 'ferments' in the small bowel causing the side effects (gas, bloating, cramps, altered bowel movements, nutrient malabsorption, brain fog and myalgia...yes, I experienced them all!!) then you can understand why FODMAP control as imperative.
My first question to you would be where are you getting your data from? There are so many unreliable, and unscientific, sources on the internet that I certainly wouldn't trust data from an unproven source?
Are you qualified in this field?
I have used Monash University's app as my reference. apps.apple.com/gb/app/monas... It does cost £7.99 though but is excellent, and science based.
My nutritionist recommends the FODMAP app by FoodMaestro which is produced in collaboration with Guy's NHS trust and Kings College. It is £3.99 but I do not think it is as good as Monash apps.apple.com/gb/app/fodma...
Consider building the app's advice around the 3 stage FODMAP principle - Restriction, Re-introduction, Adoption. My advice would be to follow the science...and make it free! Good luck.
Hi David_Atlarge, thank you for your feedback! The app is currently being built around the 3 stages as you suggested. Please read my response below to Edith0, I'd love to hear your opinion.
Can you email your information to us via our website and not this forum, agree with many of the points below raised by David_Atlarge, much information out there is incorrect. The apps that we would only recommend are the ones below, which are supported by scientific research and evidence.
Hi evaRS, FODMAP was my saviour and still is 4 years on. I worked on the initial 8 week elimination phase with the support of a qualified FODMAP dietician and would always recommend this route to anyone as it can be confusing and a bit of a minefield without that support, I know I tried. I continue to use FODMAP and if I have any symptoms I go back to a 3 day elimination to settle. I also have the Monash app, which I have never paid for and it is invaluable day to day. I question why another app is needed? Are you a dietician with FODMAP training?
In response to your questions
1) the elimination phase is intended to be used only for 6-8 weeks and again only for short periods during reintroduction. As I said earlier I only use it for really short periods if I have eaten something that exacerbates my symptoms in order to calm my gut.
2) I am not sure another app is needed and as Monash continue to develop and improve their app I use it more and more particularly as they have years of research behind them and are qualified in this area, I trust them.
3) as noted I do use FODMAP and what made it easy was the support of the dietician. I didn’t use the internet and was advised by the dietician not to and was given a lot of helpful literature during the elimination and reintroduction phases so I would be able to follow the diet. I then found the Monash app which I use mainly for shopping, one of my problems is fructose so fruit and veg are a nightmare and the app has been great for keeping me on track and symptom free.
I would also say to anyone wanting to follow FODMAP to seek a referral to a FODMAP qualified/trained dietician as any data they collect goes back to Monash/Kings to continue research. Doing it alone with apps/the internet misses this important step.
Hi Edith0, thanks so much for your response! I am a nutrition student assisting a doctor in the creation of this app, and everything is scientifically backed.
I am well aware of the Monash app and I am glad you find it helpful. We differ from the Monash app because the primary feature is the meal planning. That is, we want to make it as easy as possible for the user to cook for themselves. Additionally, we will have a more robust recipe base than Monash and the recipes are chosen for their nutritional value.
After the user finishes the rechallenging phase, the app can be used for regular meal planning with filters that will only show them recipes with FODMAPs that they can tolerate, allowing the user continue with the healthy lifestyle of cooking his/her own food even after the diet.
Do you think this is something that could have positively supplemented your dietician's advice? What do you think of this model vs. Monash's?
Hi EvaRS, What I find really helpful about the Monash app is once the user has worked out what they can and cannot eat and the levels of FODMAP they can tolerate the app will show how much of a food one can eat. For example I now know I can eat say 50 grams of melon but 51 grams will cause me pain.
I’m not sure a meal planning app would have supplemented the dieticians advice because she provided so much information that I felt able to continue FODMAP with my own meal planning and recipes. I can see for some that it is a lot to take in and the addition of an app that helps one work out recipes based on personal FODMAPs would be helpful particularly if someone is not able to get a referral to a dietician.
Whilst Monash provides recipes it is for the user to work out what they can and cannot tolerate and adjust recipes as necessary. Yours sounds like it takes this a step further which may make it easier for people to navigate the sometimes confusing world of FODMAP.
Will you post on here when the app has been developed? Be good to see it in action.
Just a short response here. If you're interested in talking further, get in touch.
Secondly, and I hate to say this, but most apps don't get used past week 1. So do some user research into how potential users use their apps at the moment - will that correspond well to your idea of having a meal planning offer that will ostensibly be used multiple times per week? And apps such as BBC weather or Google Maps don't count - the user merely consumes info, they don't have to interact with it by entering data. Potentially it would be more useful to find users who use the Monash app and ask them what that app is missing, or if there's a different angle you can use with FODMAP - one that Monash doesn't address.
The difficulty with recipe ideas is making it fit within a users normal life - i.e. if you generally shop at Tesco, are the ingredients available there, or only at Sainsburys or Waitrose? Or the user has X and Y ingredients at home and wants to make something new from those - can your app handle that?
And why does it have to be an app? A web-based tool, such as nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-we... may be more usable and reach a wider audience.
And finally, if you are going ahead, build a prototype and user test that before investing any cash in developing code. And then iterate the prototype until users are really happy with the tool. THEN build the app (and user test again!).
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