Case Study

Integration of Logmeal’s ai food recognition in the nestore project for coaching app for healthy living oriented to elderly people

NESTORE partnered with LogMeal to integrate an AI-powered food recognition system into its mobile app.

Background & Objectives

As the global population ages, promoting healthy lifestyles among older adults has become a public health priority. The NESTORE project (Novel Empowering Solutions and Technologies for Elderly people to Retain Everyday life activities) is a European initiative designed to support healthy aging through personalized digital coaching in nutrition, physical activity, cognitive health, and social engagement.

A core pillar of this coaching model is dietary behavior, which is traditionally hard to track consistently among elderly users due to usability barriers and the manual nature of food logging.

To address this, NESTORE partnered with LogMeal to integrate an AI-powered food recognition system into its mobile app. The goal was to:

Enable effortless and accurate dietary monitoring through image capture
Enhance the personalization and effectiveness of the app’s nutrition coaching
Improve long-term user engagement by simplifying food logging for older adults

Initial Assessment

User research identified a need for simple and intuitive meal logging tools
Manual food diaries were found to be tedious and inaccurate, limiting their use by elderly populations
The NESTORE team selected LogMeal’s API for integration into the app due to its ease of deployment, proven AI accuracy, & compatibility with mobile environments

AI Food Monitoring with LogMeal

Users take photos of their meals using the NESTORE app
The system provides instant recognition of:
Food types
Ingredients and portion sizes
Nutritional content, including calories, macros, and selected micronutrients
LogMeal’s analysis is automatically stored in the app’s nutrition coaching module, supporting real-time feedback and tracking

Implementation and Pilot Testing

LogMeal’s API was seamlessly embedded into the NESTORE app interface
The app was optimized for ease of use by elderly users, with large buttons, simple instructions, and voice prompts
Pilot trials were conducted in Spain and Italy, gathering user feedback on usability, accuracy, and overall experience

Results and value of Logmeal in the program

Outcomes

Improved user engagement through intuitive photo-based meal logging
Accurate dietary monitoring, enhancing the quality and relevance of coaching suggestions
Positive user feedback on the simplicity and instant value of the system
Supported healthy behaviors with less friction and higher data reliability

LogMeal Technology Value in the Program

AI-powered meal detection with ingredient-level analysis
Real-time feedback on nutrition for end-users
Fully automated food diaries, reducing cognitive burden for elderly participants
Seamless integration with mobile health platforms
Scalable solution applicable to other aging, wellness, or chronic care coaching systems

Conclusion

By integrating LogMeal’s AI food recognition, the NESTORE project succeeded in enhancing its personalized coaching capabilities for nutrition. This technology enabled accurate and low-effort food logging, contributing to better health outcomes and increased digital engagement among older adults.

partners and collaborators

HEALTH & NUTRITION REFERRALS

Giuseppe Andreoni

Professore Associato Politecnico di Milano
Doctor of Philosophy – PhD, Bioingegneria e ingegneria biomedica

More info

“NESTORE is a virtual coach supported by an ICT-based system that operates into both physical and virtual domains. It relies on several technologies with different maturity levels gathering wearable, voice based technologies, environmental sensors, emotional monitoring systems, serious games, coaching system and more to be “the coach through which you will keep fit and healthy“.