CHAPEL HILL – A new app launching today from UNC Chapel Hill is designed to help prevent binge eating episodes.
The app from the UNC Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders will be available for Apple iPhones and Apple Watch.
The “Recovery Record” app is part of a project to help suffers of binge-eating disorder or bulimia nervosa who want to join a research study.
“This is a unique study that will accelerate progress toward personalized precision medicine for binge-eating disorder and bulimia nervosa,” says Cynthia Bulik, PhD who is leading the study and is the founding director of the UNC center.
A screen shot of the new UNC app
Some 1,000 people will be enrolled for the study which will gather data with the intent of helping researchers develop personalized interventions.
“Participants will receive intervention through an app on Apple Watch and iPhone while contributing information about thoughts, emotions, and behaviors associated with binge eating, as well as heart rate and activity data from Apple Watches, saliva for DNA genotyping, and stool samples for microbiota sequencing,” UNC noted.
The study will last 30 days. Enrollment is open to people between the ages of 18 and 45 who live in the US.
“Many studies just look at one dimension of an illness, but this initiative is approaching bulimia and binge-eating disorder from multiple perspectives simultaneously including genetic, behavioral, metabolic, and the intestinal microbiota,” Bulik said. “Ultimately, we hope to develop real-time interventions via Apple Watch and iPhone that are tailored to an individual’s biology and behavior that will improve the outcomes and long-term well-being of individuals with eating disorders.”
For more information, send an email to: beginstudy@unc.edu
Information also is available via phone at 919-445-0319.
