Those who tracked food and weight lost significant amounts of weight in a new Duke study.
Without following a particular diet, overweight people who tracked daily food consumption using a free smartphone app lost a significant amount of weight in a new Duke University study.
The results were achieved using automated, free tools, rather than expensive in-person interventions, suggesting a possible low-cost route to effective weight loss.
“Free and low-cost weight loss apps have changed the ways that Americans manage their weight,” said Gary Bennett, a Duke psychology professor and co-author of the paper. “However, we knew little about whether these tools worked very well on their own. We’ve shown that commercial smartphone apps can be a helpful way to get started with weight loss.”
The new paper appears online in the open-access journal JMIR mHealth and uHealth.
Feb. 28, 2019