Assessment of nutrition-focused mobile apps' influence on consumers' healthy food behaviour and nutrition knowledge

The research explored if a nutrition-information app influences consumers' healthy food behavior and whether consumers improve their knowledge towards healthy food. Diet and nutrition apps are among the most popular health and fitness apps used by an increasing number of mobile device users. The analyzed app reads the product labels. Then it assesses the quality of ingredients and nutritional values based on user's personal data, such as age and physical activity level, and recommends healthier food alternatives. Scientific evidence of the effectiveness of nutrition-information apps for promoting consumers' healthy food behavior is still limited. The theoretical framework of the study is grounded in constructs from Health Belief Model (HBM) and Trans-theoretical Model (TTM) theories. Data were collected from consumers that spontaneously downloaded an existing nutrition-information app. Out of the 7000 consumers contacted, 143 respondents filled in both the baseline and follow-up questionnaires. The questionnaires included items deriving from the HBM and TTM theoretical constructs adopted, that is self-reported stage of change, susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, self-efficacy, cues to action, perceived and objective healthy food knowledge. The average age of respondents is 38 year-old and the sample of respondents is well distributed in terms of level of education, gender, income, working status, and geographical distribution. Findings of the study showed that nutrition-information apps can be effective in overcoming what consumers perceive as personal limitations in approaching healthy food. This is particularly evident among consumers that are building their motivation and concretely planning actions in favor of healthy eating. In particular, using a nutrition-information app decreases the perception of the barriers to healthy food eating. Users have a higher perceived personal strength and self-confidence in approaching healthy food. App users improved their objective and subjective knowledge of healthy food. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the theoretical framework. The results support that family members and friends play a specific role in healthy food behavior inclination. This suggests the inclusion of an additional theoretical construct, the social and family influence construct, when assessing the effectiveness of nutrition-information apps. To improve nutrition-information app effectiveness, the recommendation is that consumer behavior scientists, marketing researchers, nutritionists, and app developers cooperate in the apps design.