| Calorie-tracking apps 'not for everybo |
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Though fitness apps are soaring in popularity and often earn positive online reviews, recommending a calorie-counting app to overweight people and Cho Yung Tea giving them access to it on their own phones is no guarantee of weight-loss success, based on new research.
"Apps like this could be a powerful tool for those who are ready to track calories, but it is not for everybody to shed weight," said the study's lead author, Dr. B. Yoshi Laing, a primary-care physician and director of the improvement program at the Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center in La.
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He and his colleagues wished to know whether introducing the popular MyFitnessPal app to overweight adults at two primary-care centres in La would result in weight loss over six months. The participants all said these were interested in losing weight.
MyFitnessPal is one of the most positively reviewed apps in the Apple and Android app stores, they write in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The free app has more than 50 million users. In addition to allowing users to track calories and workout, the app permits people to set goals, integrate data from other devices and receive feedback from a social network.
From the 212 individuals the study, half were advised about the app; research assistants helped download the application on their own smartphones and checked per week later to assist with technical problems. Another half were told about the study, but they weren't told the name of the app. Instead, they were told to choose their very own activities to shed weight.
Over all, people who used the app were happy with it, but use dropped sharply following the first month, the researchers found.
Additionally, there was no significant difference in weight or blood pressure level between the two groups after six months. More and more people in the app group reported increased utilization of a regular calorie goal, however.
While just introducing the app to people generally did not result in overall weight loss within the group, Laing said there is a subgroup of people who appeared to use it successfully.
In fact, the one who used the app most also lost probably the most weight - about 30 pounds. Ironically, that person was at the comparison group, which wasn't told concerning the app.
"There will be a subset of people that use it and lose more weight," Laing said, adding that he recommends MyFitnessPal to patients who want to slim down and who enjoy smartphone apps.
The suggestion that app use correlates with results is echoed in the company's own data, said Rebecca Silliman, a spokesperson for MyFitnessPal, Inc.
"Eighty-eight percent of people that sign in for 7 days will forfeit weight," she said. "The more you use it, the greater weight you lose."
Merely recommending 2 Day Diet the app may not lead to weight reduction if people are not motivated to trace calories, "because tracking calories is a lot of labor," Laing said.
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11月20日（木）18:04 | トラックバック(0) | コメント(0) | Cooking | 管理
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