Med school, WPI developing app to curb overeating
Researchers at University of Massachusetts Medical School and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, helped by a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, are developing a smartphone app that will help users better understand why they overeat.
The three-year project, called RELAX, will develop technology to enable patients to track their daily eating using a smartphone and a web-based tool clinicians can use to access patient information to help inform their treatment, according to a statement released Monday by both institutions.
Development of the application and a pilot clinical study to evaluate its effectiveness will be led by Sherry Pagoto, associate professor of medicine at the medical school, and Bengisu Tulu, associate professor at WPI’s Foisie School of Business, the statement said.
Using text inputs, barcode scanning, and GPS technology, the app will track eating patterns, daily activities, exercise, patient mood, and stress-inducing events. The app will provide the patient with an itemized list of foods consumed, indicate the times of day identified as high-stress moments, and illustrate the relationship between food intake and stress. The collected information will help the user better understand his or her habits when it comes to emotional or stress eating.
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