The result will be the app ‘MyDiaMate’, a self-management support tool to strengthen mental health in adults living with this disease, seeking to improve their quality of life.

The University of Malaga is in charge of leading this project in Spain. Particularly, Professor María Teresa Anarte of the Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment will coordinate the research, in collaboration with researchers at the Regional University Hospital of Malaga (HRU) and IBIMA-Plataforma BIONAND.

“This disease requires a different lifestyle for those who suffer from it, with changes in their routines that force them to be always alert”, explains the Professor at the UMA Faculty of Psychology and Logopedics, which uses the word “distress” to refer to the fatigue and anxiety that diabetes self-care causes in patients.

“People with diabetes are twice as likely to suffer from depression. This makes psychological support essential for these patients”, assures Anarte.

Determine effectiveness

The final goal of this project, which will be conducted over the next 4 years, is to determine the effectiveness of ‘MyDiaMate’ over time. For this purpose, they have received an economic boost of 1 million euros from the JDRF, the main organization in the world that funds research on this type of diabetes.

Another purpose of this research is to verify the changes in emotional well-being, the fatigue and the self-care activities of diabetes, as well as the glycemic control and use of health services by participants, against usual care.

Lastly, they will try to establish a user profile, in order to know who would benefit most from the app.

Scientific team

This international project is led by PhD Frank Snoek at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In Malaga, coordinated by the Professor at the UMA María Teresa Anarte, the team includes: Gabriel Olveira, Head of Endocrinology and Nutrition Service, and María Soledad Ruiz de Adana, coordinator of the Diabetes Unit of the Endocrinology and Nutrition Service, both from the HRU of Malaga, as well as Mónica Carreira and Esperanza Varela, researchers at the University of Malaga.

The entire scientific team is part of the “Endocrinology and Nutrition, Diabetes and Obesity” research group of IBIMA-Plataforma BIONAND.

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It tells users whether they are eating the right portion sizes, as well as the right foods, to meet the recommended guidelines from Health Authorities in the UK.

Previous studies from Bournemouth University found that whilst most adults in the UK are aware of the 5 a day message, their understanding of how to get to it is low.

“Almost everyone knows they should eat five a day,” said Katherine Appleton, Professor of Psychology at Bournemouth University, who led the studies and the development of the new app. “But when we looked a little further, it was clear that a lot of people did not know what counts towards the target, they did not know what a portion size is, and many did not realise that they needed to eat five different things.

“Our studies also showed that lower knowledge was associated with lower consumption of fruits and vegetables,” she added.

Figures from Public Health England have shown that only a third of adults, and 12 percent of eleven to eighteen-year-olds eat the recommended amount.

The free SMART-5-A-DAY app has been created specifically to help people understand portion sizes and see how the amounts of fruits and vegetables that they eat contribute towards their daily target. Users select the fruit or vegetable they have just eaten and will then be asked to enter how much of it they ate. The app will then tell them whether that amount made up a full or partial portion and how much more would be needed to take it up to a full portion. It also keeps a running total of their progress towards the five a day target.

“What is unique about this app is that as well as tracking daily fruit and vegetable intake, it teaches people about portion size, so they get to the point where they know what they need to eat themselves. We think this will be an effective tool to improve people’s diets for the long term, rather than simply for the short period that they use the app,” said Professor Appleton.

A peer-reviewed study of an earlier prototype version found that it had some benefits to users’ eating habits and their understanding of what is needed to reach the daily recommended intake.

The version released today incorporates several updates from feedback after the prototype trial, which the researchers hope will lead to bigger changes in eating behaviours among its users.

SMART 5-A-DAY will be in the Google Play Store for Android phones from 29 December.

Images can be downloaded here.

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