Evaluation of a 5-a-day Fruit and Vegetable Mobile Phone Application

The 5-a-day fruit and vegetable (FV) message from the WHO recommends consumption of five 80g portions of different FV per day for health reasons. Recent research suggests that the details of the message are poorly understood by the population as a whole, by low consumers of FV and by those in demographic groups of traditional low FV consumption, and that this poor knowledge impacts on implementation of the message to result in low FV intakes. To aid implementation of the recommendations, investigators have developed a 5-a-day FV mobile phone application (app) prototype. The basic prototype app will provide information on the 5-a-day message, allow users to input consumption, and provides consumers with accurate knowledge of their adherence to the recommendations. This study will investigate the use and impact of the prototype app on FV intakes over a two or four week period. For significant impacts on health, sustained user engagement and use will be required. Up to 100 participants will be randomised to either receive or not receive the app, and will be asked to use the app for the following two or four weeks. FV intake will be assessed at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks. Measures of app use will also be taken at these time points. Measures of FV knowledge will also be measured at these time points. Measures of FV attitudes were initially planned but not undertaken to reduce demand characteristics for participants. The investigators anticipate that changes in intakes will be mediated by changes in knowledge and attitudes.