An Analysis of Dietary Habits of Young Adults Seeking Weight Loss and the Feasibility of a Modified Monitoring System Using Mobile Technology in Young Adults

Abstract

With rates of overweight and obesity at the highest in recorded history, for the first time, it is expected that obese young adults will have a significantly lessened life expectancy compared to their non-obese counterparts (Fontaine, Redden, Wang, Westfall, & Allison, 2003.) However, young adults do not respond well to traditional behavioral therapy weight loss interventions (Gokee-LaRose, Gorin, Raynor, Laska, Jeffery, Levy, & Wing, 2009.) Therefore, new interventions must be explored that could positively assist obese young adults in weight loss. Recent research has attempted to modify treatment in order to address modality utilized by young adults, like technology. Furthermore, there has been an explosion of weight loss mobile apps. However, they still utilize traditional dietary monitoring. Traditional monitoring requires the recording of all foods consumed daily. While effective, this burdensome method elicits a significant decline in monitoring across time (Gokee-LaRose et al., 2009.) This is particularly concerning given that, just like reducing caloric intake (Ramage, Farmer, Apps Eccles, & McCargar, 2014.), self-monitoring is consistently linked to successful weight loss (Burke et al., 2011) Recent research evaluating dietary habits of over 120,000 adults across 20 years, has narrowed down the causes of weight gain and loss across time to a small number of foods consumed on a regular basis (Mozaffarian, Hao, Rimm, Willett, & Hu, 2011.). However, there is a paucity of data understanding the daily-caloric intake/patterns of young adults. Therefore, there is significant potential of utilizing a targeted modified monitoring system to monitor and decrease or increase specific food categories, leading to a energy deficit and sustainable weight loss in young adults.