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FoodCalc Launches Nutritional Dining App for the 150 Million Americans Living with Chronic Diseases
[December 05, 2012]

FoodCalc Launches Nutritional Dining App for the 150 Million Americans Living with Chronic Diseases


LOUISVILLE, Ky. --(Business Wire)--

FoodCalc, Inc. announced today the launch of EveryoneEat!TM, an Android (News - Alert) and iPhone app that empowers the 150 Million Americans living with chronic diseases, and the millions more at risk, to make highly-informed meal decisions at 180,000 restaurant locations nationwide.

According to the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), nearly half of Americans today are living with a nutrition-related chronic disease like Heart Disease, Diabetes, Kidney Disease and countless other conditions. Per the National Restaurant Association, 47 percent of all dining is done in restaurants, meaning that those with chronic diseases are spending upwards of $280 billion annually dining out without the benefit of proper nutrition guidance.

Unfortunately, even when available, nutrition information is not provided to diners in the context of their specific health conditions, necessitating people to perform sophisticated calculations to determine if a dish is appropriate for their dietary restrictions. EveryoneEat! addresses this issue by offering easy-to-attain nutritional guidance for specific dietary guidelines based on an individual's personal health profile and disease stages.

After downloading the app, users simply enter basic information (age, gender, height, weight, activity level), and their chronic helth conditions and special dietary restrictions. This information is then used by FoodCalc to calculate a dietary guideline determined in collaboration with major health associations including, the American Diabetes Association, the National Kidney Foundation, the National Osteoporosis Foundation, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, and many others. This analysis is instantly performed, and users can immediately search for dishes at restaurants by type of cuisine or restaurant name.



Dishes are sorted based on how closely they match the user's dietary needs, providing what FoodCalc terms "Nutrition Insights", a comprehensive and easy-to-understand overview of the dish at a nutrient level, specifically attuned to one's health condition. If a nutrient level is inappropriate (i.e., too many carbs, too much sodium, phosphorus, etc.), the user will be given specific context for how the dish compares to an appropriate meal for their health condition.

"Today, there are dozens of 'nutrition' apps providing basic nutrition facts or generic health 'scores' for hundreds of restaurant chains. But for Americans with special dietary restrictions, it's unfortunately left to them to decipher the nutrition facts provided, in order to understand whether a dish is appropriate for the needs mandated by their specific condition," said Ken Marshall, CEO at FoodCalc. "What we recognize is that no matter how simple or complicated a dietary restriction, people need to easily answer the basic question, 'does this dish meet my dietary guidelines ', and if not, 'what's off and by how much ' EveryoneEat! addresses this need head on."


In addition to nutrition guidance, the app allows users to "Nominate" their favorite local restaurants, which FoodCalc will then contact directly to encourage them to participate. Users can also connect with Registered Dietitians via the app (their own or one in FoodCalc's network) for much deeper personalization of dietary guidance.

"Web, mobile and social apps like EveryoneEat! are the future of dietetics," said Registered Dietitian Meri Raffetto, author of Glycemic Index for Dummies and co-author of Restaurant Calorie Counter for Dummies. "To guide their journey of nutrition transformation, our patients and clients need us to provide guidance to them wherever they eat, and the level of personalization we are able to provide people through this app is absolutely unprecedented. Going forward, this type of solution is going to be our primary driver of patient and client coaching."

Visit http://www.foodcalc.com/everyoneeat to download the EveryoneEat! app.

About FoodCalc, Inc.

FoodCalc's mission is to transform the dietary well being of America by providing nutrition-related apps and services to consumers, health-related technology companies, healthcare providers and foodservice businesses. The company provides enterprise class Nutrition Insight solutions to restaurants, food manufacturers, corporate and school cafeterias, senior living communities and Registered Dietitians. Founded in February 2012, the business is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, the nation's leading center for age-related healthcare research and innovation.


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