A content and quality analysis of free, popular mHealth apps supporting 'plant-based' diets

Jennifer J Lee; Mavra Ahmed; Rim Mouhaffel; Mary R L'Abbé

doi:10.1371/journal.pdig.0000360

A content and quality analysis of free, popular mHealth apps supporting 'plant-based' diets

PLOS Digit Health. 2023 Oct 25;2(10):e0000360. doi: 10.1371/journal.pdig.0000360. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Authors

Jennifer J Lee¹, Mavra Ahmed^{1

2}, Rim Mouhaffel¹, Mary R L'Abbé¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutritional Sciences, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
² Joannah & Brian Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Abstract

There has been an increased emphasis on plant-based foods and diets. Although mobile technology has the potential to be a convenient and innovative tool to help consumers adhere to dietary guidelines, little is known about the content and quality of free, popular mobile health (mHealth) plant-based diet apps. The objective of the study was to assess the content and quality of free, popular mHealth apps supporting plant-based diets for Canadians. Free mHealth apps with high user ratings, a high number of user ratings, available on both Apple App and GooglePlay stores, and primarily marketed to help users follow plant-based diet were included. Using pre-defined search terms, Apple App and GooglePlay App stores were searched on December 22, 2020; the top 100 returns for each search term were screened for eligibility. Included apps were downloaded and assessed for quality by three dietitians/nutrition research assistants using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) and the App Quality Evaluation (AQEL) scale. Of the 998 apps screened, 16 apps (mean user ratings±SEM: 4.6±0.1) met the eligibility criteria, comprising 10 recipe managers and meal planners, 2 food scanners, 2 community builders, 1 restaurant identifier, and 1 sustainability assessor. All included apps targeted the general population and focused on changing behaviors using education (15 apps), skills training (9 apps), and/or goal setting (4 apps). Although MARS (scale: 1-5) revealed overall adequate app quality scores (3.8±0.1), domain-specific assessments revealed high functionality (4.0±0.1) and aesthetic (4.0±0.2), but low credibility scores (2.4±0.1). The AQEL (scale: 0-10) revealed overall low score in support of knowledge acquisition (4.5±0.4) and adequate scores in other nutrition-focused domains (6.1-7.6). Despite a variety of free plant-based apps available with different focuses to help Canadians follow plant-based diets, our findings suggest a need for increased credibility and additional resources to complement the low support of knowledge acquisition among currently available plant-based apps. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency.

Copyright: © 2023 Lee et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Grants and funding

J.J.L. receives research support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and has received research support from the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre at University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada (2020-21). Part of M.A.’s salary comes from the Feeding Kids, Nourishing Minds, supported by a grant from President’s Choice Children’s Charity and by University of Toronto’s Joannah & Brian Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.