We make a dizzying average of 200 decisions every day about what we eat. Could apps help us to make better ones? It is a question posed by a new two-part Channel 4 series, Michael Mosley: Who Made Britain Fat?, in which the medical journalist and former doctor examines government policies to tackle obesity. It is 30 years since the first official strategy to address the problem, during which time rates have quadrupled. A 2020 paper found that there have been almost 700 failed policies in England since 1992.
The Government is now investing in an array of apps to tackle the crisis, with some success. Downloads of Public Health England’s Couch to 5K app reached five million in July last year. But software that helps us to regulate our intake of unhealthy food has been slower to take off.
A study last year by researchers at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at Oxford University found that participants in three online weight-loss programmes – including a…
