Article originally appears in the July 19, 2018 issue of the SNEB eCommunicator.
The USDA discontinued SuperTracker on June 30, 2018. Begun in 2011, SuperTracker had 27 million users including registered dietitian nutritionists, students and others. Functionalities included tracking daily food and physical activity as well as analyzing recipes or menus. Why was the tool discontinued? USDA recognized that currently there are many available tools. More @ https://www.choosemyplate.gov/supertracker-discontinuation-faqs.
The July/August issue of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Food and Nutrition magazine includes an article, ‘So Long, SuperTracker’ by Marisa Moore, MBA, RDN, LD @ https://foodandnutrition.org/from-the-magazine/so-long-supertracker/ which provides alternatives to SuperTracker. The links below reflect additional online information about some of the alternatives. For more mobile app reviews go to Food and Nutrition magazine @ https://foodandnutrition.org/tag/apps/. Marisa Moore’s bio is @ http://marisamoore.com/about-marisa/. As noted in the article, be sure to identify the databases used by any platform and their accuracy – some use member-provided data.
One last point…feel free to search online for user reviews of trackers and recipe analysis tools as they may provide helpful insight. I provided one such review below.
eaTracker
Created by Dietitians of Canada, based on Canadian nutrition and activity guidelines. Functionalities include logging/tracking food and activity, planning meals and analyzing recipes. There are several YouTube videos that provide tutorials – this one is 12 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1L3fB-pJeU – others are shorter.
>>>Detailed overview of eaTracker
http://www.unlockfood.ca/en/Articles/Menu-Planning/eaTracker-Tracking-Your-Eating-Habits-and-Physica.aspx
>>>A retrospective analysis of the real-world use of eaTracker
The focus of this study is to determine who used eaTracker during 2012 – 2014 in specific geographic areas of Canada and the use of the goals functionality added in 2011. There was high interest in goal-setting among users although user-written goals were of poor quality and rarely tracked.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5024431/
>>>Gastrointestinal Society of Canada review of eaTracker
Brief description/review along with reviews of 2 American tools
https://www.badgut.org/information-centre/health-nutrition/diet-analysis-websites/
Verywell Fit
Recipe nutrition calculator creates Nutrition Facts panels that can be saved. The calculator uses the USDA National Nutrient Database and other databases.
>>>Verywell Fit recipe nutrition calculator
Step-by-step user directions.
https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
HappyForks
A recipe analyzer and tracker @ https://happyforks.com/, it uses data from U.S. and Canadian sources.
>>>Brief user review
https://roseylinn.wordpress.com/2016/01/08/recipe-analyzer/
SparkPeople
Track food and activity, analyze recipes and generate food labels @ https://www.sparkpeople.com/. Uses the USDA database and member data.
MyFitness Pal
A popular tool for consumers identified by registered dietitian nutritionists @ https://www.health.com/nutrition/best-nutrition-apps and health organizations such as Kaiser Permanente @ https://wa-health.kaiserpermanente.org/best-diet-apps/. Here is one of many MyFitness Pal tutorials @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu9RKqlmD1Q (about 5 minutes).
>>>Registered dietitian review from Women’s Health
This review uses MyFitness Pal to illustrate how to best log food intake and possible pitfalls.
https://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/a19965251/myfitnesspal/
>>>PC magazine review
Detailed review from a functional perspective.
https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393270,00.asp
>>>Which calorie-tracking app should you count on?
Detailed functional analysis of MyFitness Pal compared to other apps.
https://www.cultofmac.com/441940/calorie-tracking-app-reviews-diet-apps/
SELF Nutrition Data
Another popular consumer tool. A short (3 1/2 minutes) video @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9t1AKVZvcE shows how to generate a Nutrition Facts label.
>>>7 websites that give you nutritional information to eat smarter
Review of several platforms including SELF Nutrition Data w/ screenshots
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-websites-give-nutritional-information-eat-smarter/
More comprehensive databases for professionals
The Food and Nutrition magazine article identifies dietary analysis, menu planning and other options for professionals. In addition, here are 2 detailed lists: https://www.consultant360.com/n411/articles/nutrition-assessment-and-recipe-analysis-applications-0 and http://www.todaysdietitian.com/news/enews_0909_03.shtml.