The Arnold School of Public Health is seeking out participants for a new study involving smartphone technology and its relationship to weight loss.
Many diet apps allow or call for users to track their own consumption of food as an aid in planning a healthier lifestyle. Dr. Brie Turner-McGrievy, an assistant professor in the Arnold School, has conducted research on such apps that allow users to track their diets via photography. What she and her team concluded was that most of the apps did not provide "evidence-based strategies to improve dietary intake."
Turner-McGrievy also researched the effects of crowdsourcing feedback on self-monitoring one's diet. The study was conducted with participants using the "Traffic Light Diet" method.
"We tested and surveyed several adults and asked them to look at pictures and rate how healthy they thought they were," Turner-McGrievy said. Participants rated foods as red, yellow or green. It was concluded that untrained adults can effectively use the TLD method to receive simple and accurate feedback on their diets.
"Because feedback from crowdsourcing relies on the agreement of the majority, this method holds promise as a low-burden approach to providing diet-quality feedback," the study said, "while also building in gamification and social networking, supporting aspects that may make this approach to dietary self-monitoring more engaging."
Turner-McGrievy told The Daily Gamecock about the Arnold School's upcoming study, which will test means of "harness(ing) mobile technology" such as the photography of food and crowdsourcing to achieve healthy eating habits. She said the study will be conducting "to kick off weight loss and getting ready for the holidays."
Arnold School researchers are recruiting participants for the 6-week study which will begin in September and end just before Thanksgiving, according to Turner-McGrievy. People who are interested in participating can go to uscweightresearch.com and complete a screening questionnaire.