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Capitalizing on mobile technology to support healthy eating in ethnic minority college students
Rachel F Rodgers1,2, Wendy Pernal1, Atsushi Matsumoto1
1a Department of Counseling and Applied Educational Psychology , Northeastern University , Boston , Massachusetts , USA.
Objective:
To evaluate the capacity of a mobile technology-based intervention to support healthy eating among ethnic minority female students.
Participants:
Forty-three African American and Hispanic female students participated in a 3-week intervention between January and May 2013.
Methods:
Participants photographed their meals using their smart phone camera and received motivational text messages 3 times a day. At baseline, postintervention, and 10 weeks after the intervention, participants reported on fruit, vegetable, and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. Participants were also weighed at baseline.
Results:
Among participants with body mass index (BMI) ≥25, fruit and vegetable consumption increased with time (p < .01). Among participants with BMI <21, consumption of fruit decreased (p < .05), whereas the consumption of vegetables remained stable. No effects were found for sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.
Conclusion:
Mobile technology-based interventions could facilitate healthy eating among female ethnic minority college students, particularly those with higher BMI.
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