Texting and using social networking sites that offer weight loss advice like Facebook, could help college students lose weight, according to new research led by a professor at the Center for Obesity Research and Education. The professor of Kinesiology, Melissa Napolitano, looked at the impact of using online weightloss tools through cell phones. One group of students participated in a private Facebook page group that offered information in various forms relating to diet and exercise. The second group did the same but also received individual information from a researcher via text message. The third group was a control that received no diet or exercise advice.The study lasted for eight weeks and the group that belonged to the Facebook group and received the text messages lost an average of five pounds in weight. Some 5.2 million college students are obese, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As a result, there is enormous scope to help students lose weight through providing guidance and help in the from of social networking groups and personalised and tailored text messages.Ms Neopolitano said, “These results show that text messaging and smart phones are powerful tools for delivering weight loss interventions, particularly since these are technologies that most college students have with them at all times.”
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