Mobile Weight Control

Self-help approaches to diet and weight management have been around for decades. As new technologies have emerged and gained broad acceptance, eating and weight control PDA applications and sites have proven to be popular ones. Now the mobile phone is being enlisted in the 'war on obesity.'

Among these new toys is MyFoodPhone, a service offered through Sprint that allows dieters to photograph meals and snacks with their camera phone before they eat, then instantly upload the pictures to their online MyFoodPhone account. Every two weeks a "nutritional adviser" checks the account and delivers feedback via the Web about portion sizes, nutritional content and general eating habits in the form of a video clip or notes.

Now if we can just get this down to real time we may actually influence eating behaviors. Imagine being in a social network of like-minded dieters, or of people who are managing their high blood cholesterol levels or diabetes, and taking and sending a photo of the meal in front of you to the group for a 'reality check' before eating it.

And for the researchers - real-time tailored nutrition interventions.

Technorati Tags: Mobile Phones, Nutrition, Obesity, Social Media, Tailored Interventions