The prestigious Dieticians Association of Australia (DAA) President’s Award for Innovation has been presented to two Sydney-based dieticians who recently launched an iphone app to help Australians with food intolerances.

DAA President Julie Dundon will present Accredited Practising Dieticians Liz Beavis and Milena Katz with the award, for their innovative Food?Sick app, at the DAA’s Annual General Meeting in Sydney this week.

After several years of research and planning, the winning dieticians launched Food?Sick in August 2011.

The iphone app aims to help people with food intolerances, or those suspecting they may have an intolerance, track symptoms and food intake.

‘Our strength is in helping people to manage food intolerances through their food choices, but to do this we need to know what they’re eating and drinking.

‘For years we’d been asking our clients to keep written food records and to list any symptoms they had, but often they’d leave their food diary at home or it would get lost – which made it difficult,’ said Ms Beavis.

‘Food?Sick provides an easy way for people to record everyting they eat and drink and to rate their symtoms using a five-point scale. They can then share this information with their dietician,’ said Ms Katz.

She said the app does not offer dietary advice or diagnose food intolerances.

Ms Dundon said dieticians continually amazed her with their creativity in helping people lead healthier lives. But this year Liz and Milena’s iphone app was a stand-out winner for the DAA’s innovation award.

‘They’ve come up with a novel way to help people affected by food intolerance – using the latest technology and riding on the popularity of phone apps. Their forward thinking is an inspiration to many dieticians,’ said Ms Dundon.

Ms Beavis and Ms Katz run nutrition consultancies in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and inner west.

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