Using an AI Mobile Application to Promote Healthy Eating

University of California (UC) Davis

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Healthy

Treatments: Other: Limited app version for dietary assessment only; Other: A mobile application that uses AI to deliver behavioral nudges that encourage healthy food choices.

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07108452

2308774

25ISA1474935 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this feasibility study is to determine the adherence, acceptability, and usability of the behavioral intervention of a mobile AI application and its effects on food choices and diet quality. A secondary goal is to assess whether the app's accuracy or feasibility differs by food security status. Study participants are UC Davis students aged 18-24 years. The main question it aims to answer is:

- Does the gamified app version that delivers behavioral nudges have a higher adherence and acceptability rate, and does this translate to better dietary behaviors?

Participants will use either the intervention app (dietary assessment + gamification) or the control app (non-gamified, dietary assessment only) for six weeks to record all their food intake. Diet quality will be assessed at baseline and endline, and a Likert scale acceptability questionnaire will be administered at endline.

Enrollment: 114 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 24 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Willing to use their smartphones with app to record all foods consumed
• UC Davis student

Exclusion criteria

• eating disorders
• Participant in the validation study that tested the app's accuracy against weighed food records

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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114 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention group- Gamified app version; dietary assessment + gamification

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will be randomly assigned at enrollment to the intervention group, which will receive a gamified app that delivers behavioral nudges and provides a daily report of caloric and nutrient intake.

Treatment:

Other: A mobile application that uses AI to deliver behavioral nudges that encourage healthy food choices.

Control group- Limited app version, dietary assessment only

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants will be randomized at enrollment to the control group, which will receive a "limited" app version that only provides a daily report of caloric and nutrient intake, without delivering behavioral nudges.

Treatment:

Other: Limited app version for dietary assessment only