An app for anyone wanting to learn about the FODMAP diet and identify low and high FODMAP foods.
What does the app do?
This app offers comprehensive information about the FODMAP diet, searchable foods for FODMAP content, low FODMAP recipe ideas, integrated shopping list and a one week trial journaling section. Foods are listed using a traffic light system and according to serving sizes. Red foods are high in FODMAPs and should be avoided, orange foods are moderate in FODMAPs and may be tolerated by some people while green foods are low in FODMAPs and are safe for consumption. The specific food serving sizes in the app is helpful to work out how much food can be safely consumed. The app also contains other information about irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and recipes and meal ideas to help people with IBS. For the complete app description, go to Google Play (android), iTunes or the app website and for a detailed review, see Reviews.
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CONS |
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✔ Credible source - information is written by the research team at Monash University where the low FODMAP diet was originally developed and food is tested for their FODMAP content.
✔ Easy to read comprehensive information about the diet.
✔ Helps you follow a one-week low FODMAP trial where you can plan your meals, track a multitude of symptoms and then analyse the outcomes with graphing at the end of the trial period to see the benefit.
✔ Easily searchable and filterable accurate information for the FODMAP content of hundreds of different foods which is provided in a traffic light system.
✔ Lots of low FODMAP recipe ideas.
✔ Create a shopping list.
✔ Section on packaged foods is developing but this is limited so far.
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✘ The journal section is only designed for a one-week trial rather than ongoing use – the app recommends a full 2-6 week trial with a dietitian.
✘ No food re-challenge feature or information on how to re-introduce high FODMAP food after you've eliminated from your diet.
✘ No area for custom symptom entry or freehand notes.
✘ Recipes not filterable (e.g. if you are a vegetarian).
✘ On the main page of the searchable food guide, the portion info is unclear. It doesn’t differentiate between whether small portions are OK or not — it will just show a red light if higher portions are not OK unless you click into the food to see the breakdown for different portion sizes.
✘ At the time of review there hadn’t been an update for 6 months (and that update was a technical one not content based).
✘ Some of the recipes aren’t particularly interesting and are in need of an update.
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Privacy and security
You can record personal information on the app such as symptoms. The app is not password protected. The app does not appear to have a privacy policy. Read more about things you can do to improve your safety and security when using apps.
Review details
Date of review: March 2018
Platform reviewed: Android
Version: 2.0.5
Download size: 10.50 MB
Updated on: 12/09/2017
Learn more
This app has been reviewed by other independent websites:
The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet Practical Apps, Canada
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Clinical review
Reviewer: Jeremy Steinberg, GP, RNZCGP
Date of review: March 2018
Comments: This app is useful for people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) who would like to try the low FODMAP diet. Users can look up the FODMAP content of different foods, find recipe ideas, learn about irritable bowel syndrome and the low FODMAP diet, track symptoms and analyse the benefit of a one week trial of the diet. While this is a paid app, it is of very high quality and in my opinion is a must have for those trialing a low FODMAP diet. It was developed by the research team at Monash University, the pioneers of the diet. It offers comprehensive information about the diet, searchable foods for FODMAP content, low FODMAP recipe ideas, integrated shopping list and a one week trial journaling section. It is extremely important to thoroughly read the about section to learn about the diet. The app does appropriately recommend dietitian input after the one week trial, but this is a luxury few would be able to afford in New Zealand. The app would be more helpful if you could do journaling for a longer period and if it had a re-challenge section. There are also some aspects of the searchable food section that could be improved, and the recipe section probably needs updating. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be very actively improved - at the time of review the last update was six months ago (and this was technical not content related). More information and recipe ideas are available on their blog: https://www.monashfodmap.com/blog/ .
Safety concerns: None.
New Zealand relevance: No issues of concern.
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