Nutri-Calc HD

Software Reviews NUTRI-CALC HD. Diet and Exercise Software for PC-compatible computers with a hard disk. Three 51/4-inch disks. Tempe, AZ, Camde Corporation, 1989. $225.00. Nutri-Calc HD is a nutritional analysis/exercise software program composed of two primary modules. The first module, called "Nutri-Calc," allows the user to calculate the nutrient content of recipes, meals, or overall diets. This module computes the nutrient totals and displays them as a percentage of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) or other guidelines. The second module, called "Calorie-Magic," is intended to estimate an individual's caloric expenditure. Typically, the user would begin by entering personal information, including name, age, sex, weight, and height of the individual whose diet is to be analyzed. The Nutri-Calc module uses this information to calculate a Target Daily Allowance, which is based on the 1980 RDAs or the Canadian Recommended Nutrient Intakes (RNIs) and other guidelines. Next, the user selects foods from a relatively large data base of 3,300 foods. The program assigns a default serving size for each food item, which can be adjusted prior to analysis. The analysis may then be viewed in both tabular and bar chart form. In addition, a pie chart can be produced showing the percentage of total caloric intake coming from fats, carbohydrate, protein, and alcohol. Upon completion of the "Nutri-Calc" dietary analysis, the user may then use the second module, "Calorie-Magic," to estimate caloric expenditure. The first entry screen of this module asks the user to enter the usual time spent performing various daily activities, such as sleeping, dressing/undressing, eating, and standing. More detailed activities are entered on a second screen. The total time attributed to these various activities must equal 24 hours. Given this information, the module then estimates total energy expenditure. If the user wants to gain or lose weight, a desired body weight and number of weeks to change can be entered. The program then calculates a "weight plan" specifying the recommended caloric intake to produce the desired change in body weight. This program was tested on an IBM PS/2 Model 50 with monochrome display. In general, the program was less user-friendly than other nutritional software packages, relying heavily on function keys, many of which are not defined on screen, but can be viewed in the "help" function. One design flaw encountered in running the package is the absence of scrollable food lists, requiring a combination of arrow keys and PgUp/PgDn …