Effectiveness of a smartphone app (e-12HR) in improving adherence to the Mediterranean diet in Spanish university students by age, gender, field of study, and body mass index: a randomized controlled trial
There is an urgent need to implement intervention programs to promote adherence to the Mediterranean diet (AMD) in university students to prevent non-communicable diseases. A powerful tool for this is smartphone apps. Furthermore, it is necessary to determine the subgroups that are most likely to be...
| Autores: | , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2023 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Sevilla (US) |
| Repositorio: | idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:idus.us.es:11441/153608 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/11441/153608 https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15071688 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Mediterranean diet Dietary assessment Mediterranean diet score Mediterranean diet adherence Mobile applications University students Food Population groups |
| Sumario: | There is an urgent need to implement intervention programs to promote adherence to the Mediterranean diet (AMD) in university students to prevent non-communicable diseases. A powerful tool for this is smartphone apps. Furthermore, it is necessary to determine the subgroups that are most likely to benefit from these technologies. The objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of an app (e-12HR) at improving AMD in a sample of Spanish university students and different strata. The study method was a controlled and randomized clinical trial over a four-week follow-up period and involving 385 participants (76.9% women). The participants were in two parallel groups: the control group (CG) and the intervention group (IG), with only the IG receiving feedback to improve their AMD. There were significant statistical improvements (with higher values in the IG) at week four, after no significant statistical differences at baseline (Week One): in the whole sample: +25.7% AMD index and +74.5% percentage with moderate/high AMD index. In the subgroups, seven of eight subgroups, ranging in AMD index from +17.8% (≥20 years) to +33.0% (<20 years); and for males, in weeks two (+27.9%) and three (+23.9%), but not at week four. In conclusion, e-12HR could improve AMD among university students (in the total sample and all subgroups, except ≥25 kg/m2). |
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