Could Telenutrition Be Applied Interchangeably with the Face-to-Face Interview for Dietary Intake Assessment in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has caused limitations, in patients’ accessibility in clinical and research settings. We sought whether telenutrition could be applied interchangeably with face-to-face interview for dietary intake assessment by 24-hour recall in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Sixty-eight females with T2DM aged 50-55 years were enrolled randomly in a descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study. The patients completed three consecutive 24-hour dietary recalls. The first one was a face-to-face interview, and the subsequent two recalls were conducted by telephone call. The total energy and 18 selected nutrients intake were calculated for the three interviews. Results: The mean (±SD) age of participants was 53.97±2.14 years. The face-to-face interview resulted in significantly higher total energy and 18 selected nutrients intake than the two telenutrition interviews (P value range: 0.031 - 0.001). No significant differences were found between the data provided from the two telenutrition interviews. Conclusion: Telenutrition underreports and underestimates the total energy and nutrient intakes compared with the face-to-face interview in the 24-hour dietary recall. Therefore, it cannot be recommended to be applied interchangeably with a face-to-face interview for dietary intake assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in patients whose nutrition assessment is of clinical importance. A combination of the two methods using new communication applications (e.g. WhatsApp) may cover the defects of telenutrition method.