Many Healthy Diet Smartphone Applications Fall Short of Recommended Guidelines

Not all the smartphone applications claiming to improve consumers' diet, nutrition or eating habits are not compliant with evidence-based scientific guidelines, according to a preliminary study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2016. // Researchers studied whether 32 health and fitness applications featured on Google Play and the iTunes application store adhered to the U.S. Government's 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. They found:

• About 72 percent of applications, included some of the five overarching healthy eating pattern components: healthy eating patterns; appropriate calorie limit; nutrient-dense foods and beverages; variety of foods and beverages; and community outreach and social support.


• 75 percent of the applications, however, received a low score for failing to address recommended daily amounts of food groups (such as vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy and protein).
• 84 percent fell short of addressing recommended daily amounts of food subgroups (including dark-green vegetables or whole grains) which comprise a healthy eating pattern.

"It is important that application developers address this information gap so as to safely and effectively achieve the applications' stated goals," researchers said.

Source-Eurekalert