USDA Supertracker

Background:  Many Americans know about the importance of eating a balanced diet and getting exercise but have trouble keeping track of how well they are doing. The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) wanted to create a website application to educate Americans about how the MyPlate icon and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans translated to their daily lives in meeting food group, nutrient, and physical activity goals. Ketchum worked with the USDA CNPP to develop the information architecture, visual design, and user experience for the SuperTracker (www.supertracker.usda.gov).

Program background:  SuperTracker was designed for consumer audiences including adults, children, adolescents, and pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as professional audiences like registered dieticians, healthcare professionals, and educators to use as an educational tool with clients, patients and students. Updated dietary guidance coupled with advances in technology and a public interested in using online tools for fitness led to the creation of an interactive “super” tool. USDA drew from insights and user feedback from its previous interactive tools, including MyPyramid Menu Planner and MyPyramid Tracker, as well as input from nutrition, programing and design experts to design the tool. SuperTracker, rooted in MyPlate and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, is a free tool available to the public, offering comprehensive nutrient and food group information from a database of more than 8,000 foods. It is the first interactive tool to operationalize the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. SuperTracker offers personalized features to support behavior change including weight management, journaling and goal setting with coaching. Users can also compare two foods and track in-depth diet and activity with analysis over time.

Evaluation Methods and Results:  Evaluation is based on number of registered users and number of page views captured. Launched in December 2011, in its first year, SuperTracker registered more than 1.6 million registered users. Page views exceed 120 million as of January 2013. It has been named one of the top 10 government IT projects of 2012 by Government Computer News.

Conclusions:  According to research by the 2010 National Grocers Association, 82 percent of consumers use social networking areas of the Internet to gather information about food and nutrition using online tools such as BMI trackers, calorie counters and calculators, and fitness planners. SuperTracker, an online, interactive tool offering an interface of MyPlate, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the HHS Physical Activity Guidelines, provides consumers with the practical application to empower them to make health food and activity choices.

Implications for research and/or practice:  SuperTracker is a dynamic resource, and since launch 25 enhancements have been completed. Future research can focus on 1) how SuperTracker use has adapted to user needs 2) the effect of SuperTracker use on Americans healthy choices.