Health Heroes: An app to support families in health eating

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The proliferation of health promotion apps along with mobile phones' array of features supportinghealth behaviour change offers a new and innovative approach to healthier eating. However, themajority of apps on the market are not underpinned with behaviour change theory and evidencewhich may mean they are unsafe or ineffective.Health Heroes is the first family healthy eating app to involve extensive research with families usingground breaking methods drawn from the fields of Health Psychology, User-Centred Design (UCD),Gamification & Persuasive Technologies. The project represents a collaboration between industry,public health, academia and local families, with now the opportunity to partner with Jamie Oliver andexpand its reach and impact on families across the nation.In recognition that portion sizes have increased dramatically over the past decade and the growingbody of evidence highlighting their impact on the obesity epidemic, Health Heroes aims to supportfamilies in managing their portion sizes to achieve a balanced diet.The app is designed to function as communication tool for the family to work together on changingtheir eating habits. It also helps families to manage their dietary habits outside of the homeenvironment where schools, restaurants, and food outlets can join the challenge to support families in eating the right balance of foods.