Smartphone technology facilitates dietary change in healthy adults

Objectives: Many individuals are advised to adhere to specific diet plans for their personal health; hence, it is important that tools are available to support these behaviors. Smartphone applications (apps) may assist health care professionals in educating their clients on specific dietary modifications. This pilot study focused on a single dietary modification, reducing sodium intake, to determine whether a commercial health app is useful for promoting dietary change. Methods: Thirty healthy adults (age 34.4 +/- 15.7 y; body mass index 25.6 +/- 4.3 kg/m(2)) were recruited from a university community and completed this 4-wk randomized parallel trial. Participants were instructed to reduce their sodium intake to <= 2300 mg/d by using the MyFitnessPal app to receive feedback on sodium content of foods or by paper tallying of estimated sodium intake. The predicted 24-h sodium excretion, estimated using the ratio of sodium to creatinine from the first morning urine void, and participant satisfaction were the main outcomes measured. Results: The change in the predicted 24-h sodium excretion differed between groups: -838 +/- 1093 and +236 +/- 1333 mg/24 h predicted for the app and journal groups, respectively (P = 0.010). Moreover, participants in the app group reported significantly greater satisfaction with their method of diet tracking than the journal group (P = 0.001). Conclusions: These data suggest that smartphone apps have the potential to facilitate the implementation of dietary advice. This was a small pilot study with limited scope, and more research is necessary to determine the value of smartphone apps for facilitating dietary change. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.