The use of mobile applications for dietary purposes has dramatically increased along with the consistent development of mobile technology. Assessing diet quality as a dietary pattern or an indicator across key food groups in comparison to those recommended by dietary guidelines is useful for identifying optimal nutrient intake. This systematic review aims to explore mobile applications and their impact on the diet quality of the user. The electronic databases of The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (Cinahl), The American Psychological Association’s (APA Psycinfo), and PubMed were systematically searched for randomised and non-randomised controlled trials to retrieve papers from inception to November 2021. Ten studies with 1638 participants were included. A total of 5342 studies were retrieved from the database searches, with 10 articles eligible for final inclusion in the review. The sample sizes ranged from 27 to 732 participants across the included studies, with 1638 total participants. The ratio of female to male participants in the studies was 4:1. The majority of the mobile applications or M-health interventions were used to highlight dietary health changes (six studies), with the remainder used to reduce weight or blood sugar levels (four studies). Each study used a different measure to quantify diet quality. Studies were either assessed by diet quality scoring or individual dietary assessment, of the ten studies, six studies reported an improvement in diet quality following diet-related mobile application use. Mobile applications may be an effective way to improve diet quality in adults; however, there is a need for more targeted and longer-term studies that are expressly designed to investigate the impact using mobile applications has on diet quality.
Background: Mobile technology has grown at an exceptional rate and is now a huge part of our daily living. This use of mobile technology has opened up new possibilities in treating health, with almost half of the current applications linked to the mHealth sector. In particular, dietary measurement, applications have become very accessible and very popular. As dietary issues have become more prevalent, more mobile and mHealth applications offer various solutions. This systematic review aims to address if the use of such mobile applications or mobile health technology can improve diet quality in adults that interact with them. Methods: A systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomised controlled trials (NRCTs) will be conducted. The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (Cinahl), The American Psychological Association’s (APA Psycinfo), and PubMed will be searched from January 2010 to November 2021. Primary outcomes will include identifying if adults who use mobile applications and health technology improve their diet quality compared to adults who do not use this technology. Study selection will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and MetaAnalyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The methodological appraisal of the studies will be assessed independently by two different reviewers (AS and JR) using the Cochrane Risk-of-Bias Tool for RCTs and the Risk-of Bias In Non-Randomised Studies Tool for NRCTs. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval is not essential for this systematic review. Only data from studies that are publically available from previously published studies will be used. The findings of this systematic review will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at relevant conferences. PROSPERO registration: CRD42021240224 (01/03/2021).
The health benefits of exposure to greenspace are well researched; however, causal pathways for improved health outcomes are complex, and evidence is minimal on potential moderating factors. This review aimed to assess the strength of the evidence and potential impact of exposure to green and blue spaces on dietary outcomes in adults. The inclusion criteria for the review were based on the PICO criteria. Five databases were searched: CINAHL, GreenFILE, AMED, Medline, and PubMed, accessed on 14th June 2021. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist for Analytical Cross-Sectional Studies was used for quality assessment in all studies. Due to heterogeneity, narrative synthesis was conducted to evaluate the relationships between the included studies. Four observational studies which reported diet-related outcomes were included in the review, and participants within the studies ranged from 554 to > 350,000 participants. Other health outcomes, including physical activity and obesity, have also been reported. Socioeconomic status (SES) was identified as a significant determinant of dietary intake and food choice. Two studies found that dietary patterns were not correlated with exposure to greenspace. Due to the small number of articles retrieved and the paucity of evidence, the findings need to be interpreted with caution. Further research is required to elucidate the complex mechanisms involved. Research is also needed to determine which greenspace attributes impact dietary intake and food choices among adults. When developing public health interventions, the significant health benefits associated with different socioeconomic groups should be considered.
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