ACBN Technology & Digital Applications 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which artificial intelligence application in nutrition practice carries the HIGHEST risk of perpetuating health disparities?
- AI chatbots that answer general food safety questions
- Predictive algorithms trained on non-diverse population datasets (Correct answer)
- Automated appointment reminders
- Digital meal-logging interfaces
Correct answer: Predictive algorithms trained on non-diverse population datasets
Algorithms trained on homogeneous datasets encode existing biases and produce less accurate or inequitable recommendations for underrepresented populations.
Question 2: A client photographs meals for AI-assisted nutrient analysis. The PRIMARY limitation of image-recognition food logging compared to manual entry is:
- Inability to capture vegetables
- Inaccuracy in estimating portion sizes from 2D images (Correct answer)
- Failure to identify branded products
- Longer entry time than manual logging
Correct answer: Inaccuracy in estimating portion sizes from 2D images
Two-dimensional images lack depth information, making accurate volume and thus gram-weight estimation inherently imprecise for AI analysis.
Question 3: Under the FTC Act, a nutritionist who promotes a branded app on social media must:
- Only disclose if the app is paid
- Disclose any material connection including free access or affiliate relationships (Correct answer)
- Use hashtag #ad only for monetary compensation
- Obtain written consent from followers
Correct answer: Disclose any material connection including free access or affiliate relationships
The FTC requires clear disclosure of any material connection—including free products, affiliate links, or consulting relationships—regardless of whether direct payment occurred.
Question 4: A nutrition practice adopts a patient portal that auto-sends dietary recall reminders via SMS. Which communication standard BEST protects client privacy in this workflow?
- Sending full dietary data in the SMS body
- Sending a secure link requiring portal login to view data (Correct answer)
- Using client first name only in SMS
- Encrypting only the SMS attachment
Correct answer: Sending a secure link requiring portal login to view data
Sending a secure portal link ensures ePHI is accessed only by authenticated users, preventing exposure of health information in unencrypted SMS channels.
Question 5: A digital nutrition intervention uses push notifications to prompt meal logging. According to behavioral science principles, which notification strategy BEST sustains long-term engagement?
- Fixed-interval notifications every 2 hours regardless of behavior
- Variable-ratio reinforcement with intermittent praise notifications (Correct answer)
- Daily penalty alerts for missed logs
- Weekly summary emails only
Correct answer: Variable-ratio reinforcement with intermittent praise notifications
Variable-ratio reinforcement schedules produce the most durable behavior maintenance because unpredictable rewards sustain motivation more than predictable ones.
Question 6: Which metric from electronic dietary assessment software BEST indicates dietary pattern quality for a client with metabolic syndrome?
- Total logged meal count per week
- Healthy Eating Index (HEI) score (Correct answer)
- Average calorie deficit percentage
- Number of unique foods logged
Correct answer: Healthy Eating Index (HEI) score
The HEI scores diet quality against Dietary Guidelines for Americans benchmarks, capturing pattern quality across multiple food groups relevant to metabolic health.
Question 7: When using telehealth for nutrition counseling, which non-verbal communication challenge is MOST unique to video visits compared to in-person sessions?
- Inability to observe body language
- Difficulty assessing skin turgor
- Loss of paralinguistic cues due to audio lag or compression (Correct answer)
- Reduced ability to establish rapport
Correct answer: Loss of paralinguistic cues due to audio lag or compression
Audio compression and lag in video calls distort tone, pacing, and micro-pauses, degrading paralinguistic information that helps clinicians gauge client affect and comprehension.
ACBN Technology & Digital Applications 3
Which artificial intelligence application in nutrition practice carries the HIGHEST risk of perpetuating health disparities?