The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has called on all Australians to join a 21-day healthy eating study using its VegEze app.
Launched last year, the CSIRO app uses game-like features to encourage adults to eat more vegetables through a “Do 3 at Dinner” challenge.
CSIRO said more than 4,000 people had taken part in the study so far and of those who completed the challenge, more than 80 per cent were now eating three vegetables with their dinner.
Scientist at CSIRO, Gilly Hendrie said the findings of the research showed that adopting a gamified approach, such as the VegEze app, was an effective way of helping improve Australia’s poor vegetable consumption record.
“The app has helped tip the scales the most for obese people, with obese men consuming one extra serve and two extra types of vegetables per day, which is a significant increase,” Dr Hendrie said.
“By the end of the challenge, the percentage of obese men that were meeting the Australian Dietary Guidelines’ vegetable recommendations had increased four times to 30 per cent.”
She said men in general increased their vegetable intake by three-quarters of a serve, which resulted in a 10 per cent increase in the number of men meeting the guidelines; however, there was an increase of only 1.4 per cent for women.
Dr Hendrie said however that a report published by CSIRO last year highlighted that women generally ate more vegetables than men, which could account for the smaller increase.
“It’s an encouraging sign of the times to see how technology can drive healthy eating habits, especially for those groups that need it the most, like men and obese adults,” she said.
“As Australia’s national science Agency, we are focused on delivering solutions that are helping Australians live longer, healthier lives.”
Dr Hendrie encouraged people to take up the 21-day challenge on the app, which was free to download from the app store.
