The study entitled “Looking Good and Feeling Better. Healthism in Weight Loss Apps” has analysed 95 mobile weight loss applications that record physical activity, diet or include, for example, a calorie counter. “Understanding that people take the step of wanting to lose weight to feel better, the apps, through their discourse, are reinforcing ideas that can make the user feel worse about themselves,” explains the researcher.

The analysis is based on the presentation pages of the apps, both the text—descriptor—and the audiovisual content, i.e. the first impact the user receives before downloading the application.  The first finding of the study is that the Body Mass Index remains the star instrument as an indicator of health. “Am I obese? Obesity occurs when a person's body mass index is 30 or above. Excess body fat increases the risk of serious health problems,” says one of the apps. 

BMI, which divides weight by height, is an indicator that has been widely criticised, as cited in the study, as being shallow and the ‘standard’ by which obesity and healthy weight are measured and defined. “It is not a reliable indicator, as it does not take into account the weight coming from muscle mass and fat mass, nor does it differentiate between the type of fat or its location; furthermore, it does not consider the age or sex of the person,” explains Sara Hurtado, PhD in nutrition and lecturer at the department of Biomedical Sciences at UIC Barcelona.

“Not all obese people are metabolically ill, although a high percentage of fat (especially visceral fat) is associated with an increased risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease,” Sara Hurtado points out. The BMI, according to the expert, could be used in epidemiological studies as a quantitative criterion to provide indicative estimates of the incidence of obesity, together with other values, but in it is in no way an indicator of obesity.

Despite recent scientific research, the BMI continues to be replicated in popular apps. According to Lara Martín Vicario's study, some of the apps use a traffic light idea: the higher the BMI, it is shown in red, and the lower the BMI, it is shown in green. “The danger of a high BMI is magnified and not an excessively low BMI, which would also carry health risks as it is considered underweight,” the researcher observes.

The study goes on to analyse the vocabulary and images used in these apps to determine if they perpetuate the prejudice that overweight people have bad lifestyle habits. “Take control of your health”; “Designed for people who care about their health”; “Be stronger, be leaner, be healthier”. These are some of the claims made by the apps, which establish a causal relationship between weight loss and improved health without explaining the reason for this relationship.

“Phrases like this, while seemingly motivational, can exert significant psychological pressure. They reinforce the idea that not being thin implies a lack of control or negligence toward one’s own health. This narrative can generate guilt and shame in users who feel they are not doing enough,” adds psychologist and lecturer at the UIC Barcelona department of Psychology Marina Santamaria. “For people who are overweight, this stigma can lead to problems of self-esteem, anxiety and even eating disorders (ED),” says the health psychologist.

Some apps go further, according to the study, since they associate being thin with being healthy, and therefore, being happier. This relationship is also reflected in the use of testimonial images, where the ‘before’ photos show a sad or neutral expression. “100M+ happy users”, indicates one of the apps analysed. “There is an implicit message that people who have not made it, aren’t,” the author says. According to the psychologist Marina Santamaría, this look is “reductionist” and “neglects essential aspects such as self-love, emotional management or body acceptance”.

Regarding moderation of the content, the author of the article is forceful: “App developers are free to include these types of messages without being penalised,” explains Lara Martín Vicario. “They may encounter barriers if hate speech or abusive language is used,” she adds. Furthermore, the author of the article points out that the creators' motives are purely commercial, and that there is no public or supranational health-related entity behind the most popular apps.

To remedy the situation, the researcher points to two ways: first, greater content moderation to prevent the aforementioned messages from proliferating among the main applications. The second, and longer term, would be to educate the population and encourage critical thinking so that they understand that apps only strive to make money, and use this language as a hook to attract more users, using appealing keywords while failing to go deeper into the effects of their message.