User state sensitive system and method for nutrient analysis using natural language interface

A nutrient analysis system comprising:

• a natural language food processor for receiving a natural language input from a user, wherein the natural language input describes food and is input other than by a displayed menu selection;
• an input parser that uses a language model to parse the natural language input into food components;
• a speech recognition system coupled to the natural language processor to record meals and other food intake events;
• a first database accessed by the natural language processor, said database being a model of the speech used to specify food selection;
• a second database storing a food model;
• a fuzzy logic search engine that searches the food model in the second database using a canonical description of a food which consists of a quantity, a size modifier, a unit, a food modifier and a food, to generate one or more hits, wherein said food model is updated with input from a user to accommodate new foods, new food names and nutrient requirements;
• a feedback generator that produces one or more running totals for one or more nutrients in the hits;
• and
• a third database accessed by the feedback generator, said database describing a state of the user as it relates to the user's nutrient intake, the state of the user including static attributes, current state and a state history, wherein said third database stores a set of rules corresponding to a predetermined diet plan for a user, and wherein the feedback generator compares the food described in said natural language input with said set of rules.