Food away from home and the risk of non-communicable diseases among young working adults in Pune, India: a smartphone-based dietary assessment

Background: The shift towards increased consumption of food away from home (FAFH) has been recognized as a significant contributor to the global rise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Despite this, dietary assessment in such contexts often relies on traditional methods prone to recall bias. This study, therefore, employed a novel smartphone-based dietary tracking application called “FoodLog” to investigate the factors associated with FAFH consumption and its relationship with NCD risk among young working adults in Pune, India. Methods: A case-control study was conducted with 1,000 participants (330 cases, 670 controls), aged 25–45 years. Dietary intake was recorded over five consecutive days using the ‘FoodLog’ app, designed to minimize recall bias. Sociodemographic data were collected via a semi-structured Google Forms questionnaire. Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios were calculated to assess associations between FAFH consumption, participant characteristics, and NCD risk. Results: Approximately 35% of participants reported consuming FAFH during the previous week. FAFH consumption was significantly associated with male gender, being married, employment as a consultant, and living alone. Correlations were also found between self-reported chronic conditions and variables such as age (36–45 years), certain professions, marital status, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption, smoking, non-vegetarian diets, and FAFH consumption. FAFH consumers had a 1.48 times higher likelihood of having chronic conditions (AOR = 1.48, CI: 1.25–1.87). Conclusions: The use of a mobile dietary app offers promising avenues for scalable nutrition monitoring. Findings support targeted public health interventions tailored to urban subgroups and encourage multidisciplinary research to address contextual dietary determinants.