Nutrition apps can help build healthy habits. For some users, their gaming features carry risks

Green means go. Red means stop. Trophies or confetti come with good performance, and people who fall behind get nudged to do better. Those brightly colored engagement tactics long ago jumped from smartphone games to everything from online shopping to sports betting and classrooms. So, it should come as no surprise that many nutrition-tracking apps like MyFitnessPal and Noom also use gaming features to keep users coming back. But as nutrition apps proliferate, some researchers are raising alarms that gamification features may do more harm than good for some people. Isabella Anderberg, a psychologist researching digital dieting behavior at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, said calorie tracking can reinforce behaviors associated with body dysmorphia and disordered eating. “We do know that not everyone’s going to experience harm from using the apps, but there are certainly factors that might increase risk,” Anderberg said. “Approach with caution.” Anderberg said there is certainly a place for the apps. Health professionals she interviewed during her research reported that apps can be especially helpful as meal-planning tools for people managing chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. And physical activity apps remind people to move their bodies. Many users report enjoying them, finding tactics like streak notifications to be motivating. Courtney Simpson, a behavioral psychologist and director of eating disorders at the Evidence-Based Treatment Centers of Seattle, said some apps encourage people to set calorie goals that are far too low for any adult. That's not only unhealthy but can set people up for failure. The gaming features keep people coming back to unrealistic goals, creating shame that may contribute to binge eating or other behaviors people are trying to change, Simpson said. “It’s not that gamification itself is bad. It’s about what it is promoting,” she said. “Is that actually going to be beneficial?” This article was provided by The Associated Press.