Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41193610›Full record

ArticleCommunications medicine2025

DietAI24 as a framework for comprehensive nutrition estimation using multimodal large language models.

Runze Yan, Hanqi Luo, Jiaying Lu, Darren Liu, Hannah Posluszny, Mehak Preet Dhaliwal, Janice MacLeod, Yao Qin, Carl Yang, Terry J Hartman and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communications medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Observational
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Review
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Runze YanCenter for Data Science, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6558-4567
Hanqi LuoHubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6253-5818
Jiaying LuCenter for Data Science, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9052-6951
Darren LiuCenter for Data Science, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0004-5019-4402
Hannah PoslusznyHubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Mehak Preet DhaliwalDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
Janice MacLeodJanice MacLeod Consulting, Glen Burnie, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8689-4938
Yao QinDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
Carl YangDepartment of Computer Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9145-4531
Terry J HartmanDepartment of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Xiao HuCenter for Data Science, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. xiao.hu@emory.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9478-5571

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAccurate dietary assessment is essential for health research. While smartphone-based food image recognition offers a convenient alternative to traditional methods, existing computer vision approaches struggle with real-world food images and analyze only basic macronutrients, limiting their utility for comprehensive nutritional research.

methodsWe developed DietAI24, a framework for automated nutrition estimation from food images that combines multimodal large language models (MLLMs) with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology to ground the MLLM's visual recognition in authoritative nutrition databases rather than relying on the model's internal knowledge. In our work, we used the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) as the authoritative nutrition database. Through this approach, DietAI24 enables accurate nutrient estimation without extensive data collection or model training.

resultsDietAI24 significantly outperforms existing methods when evaluated against commercial platforms and computer vision baselines using the ASA24 and Nutrition5k datasets. Performance is measured through mean absolute error (MAE). DietAI24 achieves a 63% reduction in MAE for food weight estimation and four key nutrients and food components compared to existing methods when tested on real-world mixed dishes (p < 0.05). Notably, DietAI24 estimates 65 distinct nutrients and food components, far exceeding the basic macronutrient profiles of existing solutions.

conclusionsDietAI24 demonstrates that integrating MLLMs with RAG and standardized nutrition databases can substantially improve dietary assessment accuracy while enabling comprehensive nutrient analysis. This framework offers a scalable solution for nutrition research and clinical applications, potentially transforming large-scale epidemiological studies and personalized dietary interventions through more accurate and less burdensome dietary data collection.

Identifiers

PMID41193610
PMCPMC12589391

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.