Research Article
Use of Online Internet Sources and Cellphone Apps Related to Health and Nutrition by Young People-their Perception and Experiences
Sindha M*, Priyanka C and Shubhada K
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics
*Corresponding author: Sindha M, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Parul University, Waghodia, Vadodara, Gujarat, India, Tel:
9586398844; Email: muskansindha@gmail.com
Article Information: Submission: 17/04/2021; Accepted: 20/05/2021; Published: 22/05/2021
Copyright: © 2021 Sindha M, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: Young people are comfortable using digital technology for their health and nutrition information needs. However, little is known for this
region regarding which online sources and cell-phone apps are popular among young people and what are their perceived benefits and experiences of using
them. Hence, the objective of this study was to investigate various health-nutrition-fitness related online sources and cell-phone apps used by young people
(18-25 years) and their influence on the knowledge and practices of the subjects.
Method: There were two parallel online studies: one investigated the use of online sources (N=52) and the second studied the use of cell-phone apps
(N=107). Participants returned completed google forms online which were then appropriately analysed.
Results: For health, exercise and nutrition, above 20% subjects visited celebrity dietitian Rujuta Diwekar and Shilpa Shetty Blogs, Instagram Pages
and YouTube Channels; www.healthline.com in the website category and used popular apps such as Healthify me, Yoga and Touchkin. Useful features of
these digital media stated by above 20% subjects were : useful for obtaining guidance regarding calorie and nutrition values of foods, healthy food recipes,
guidance on workouts, setting goals and tracking physical activity, maintaining or losing weight. Above half (60%) mentioned getting useful information of
nutrition, health and immunity relationship and all about healthy diets. A significantly higher number of cell-phone app users consumed protective vegetables
and fruits frequently (above 4 times a week) as compared to non-app users (p<0.01 for these food groups. The proportion of subjects in nutritional status
categories was significantly different (p=0.004) between users and non-users of cell-phone apps; example- underweight prevalence was 3.9% among users
and 26.5 % among non-users of apps.
Conclusion: Thus digital media holds a lot of promise to guide young people along the path of good health and nutrition but they need to be informed
adequately about how to effectively use these resources. Further research is required to understand various factors influencing choice of digital media by
young people and the ways to make them more user-friendly for this group