With the proliferation of mobile health applications the
first question is always “Is the information provided valid and reliable?”
The next question is “Was an R.D. involved to provide the expertise
necessary for an evidence-based application”? The National Institutes
of Health in Bethesda, MD, the nation’s federally funded health
research organization, has started to take a look at mobile health computing
and how various applications impact health. For more information on
comments by NIH Director, Francis Collins, MD, PhD, see this
interview entitled Mobile Technology and Healthcare.
There are many dietitians that work at the National
Institutes of Health, and a recent NIH Record article, highlights the work of Jody
Engel, MS, RD in the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Jody
has developed a mobile phone application called MyDS that allows users to track their use
of dietary supplements including the name and dose. The free, mobile application
allows you to share your supplement profile with your health care provider and
also allows you to track supplement use for other family members. For
more information on MyDS visit the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements.
MyDS is a great example of R.D.’s providing accurate
and reliable information to consumers.
Author: Elaine Ayres, MS, RD