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Helena Brandt, PhD, MS, RDN

Methodology Director

ORCID: 0009-0005-2847-4193

About Dr. Helena Brandt

Dr. Brandt is a public-health nutritionist educated at Harvard, with a research focus on a specific methodological query: how well do dietary-assessment tools truly capture what individuals consume? This inquiry serves as the foundation for the entire Independent Reviews testing framework. A calorie tracking application fundamentally functions as a dietary-assessment tool. Helena’s responsibility is to ensure that the lab assesses these tools with the same statistical rigor that an academic team would apply to validate a 24-hour dietary recall or a food-frequency questionnaire.

She became part of Independent Reviews in August 2025, just two weeks following the establishment of the publication by Sebastian. Helena and Sebastian had previously worked together on a consumer-oriented accuracy clarification, making her the lab's inaugural hire. Helena is the second signatory on the methodology document and possesses authority over any clinical or nutrition-science assertion that is displayed on the website.

Credentials in detail

Pre-Lab work

She spent five years as a senior research nutritionist at a clinical research unit within an academic medical center, where she developed dietary-assessment validation studies and contributed to the unit’s established protocol for assessing consumer-grade food-tracking tools. Her efforts included a study on photo-based dietary assessment for patients using GLP-1 receptor agonists, which shapes her current reviews of the Lab’s GLP-1-related content.

Editorial focus

Helena evaluates every page on Independent Reviews that relates to: app accuracy methodology, MAPE calculation, weighed reference meal protocols, database-quality scoring, GLP-1 nutrition framing, evidence grading, and any health claims, whether direct or indirect. She does not author individual app reviews and is not recognized as the creator of comparisons; she serves as the methodology and science gatekeeper.

Conflicts of interest

Helena maintains no financial relationships with companies that produce calorie tracking apps, GLP-1 pharmaceutical manufacturers, or providers of weight-loss programs. She does not hold any affiliate accounts. Her revenue is sourced from this publication and from independent academic consulting that is unrelated to consumer applications. She has never received compensation from any company whose products are reviewed on this site.

Recent Work

Articles

Comparisons