The Apple Watch is in use by scientists across the country to monitor everything from the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease to postpartum depression. Now, researchers are aiming to see how well the device can track eating disorders.
The University of North Carolina’s medical school will conduct the study, which is called BEGIN (or the Binge Eating Genetics Initiative), to better understand overeating disorders in which people eat large amounts of food uncontrollably in a small period of time. The school aims to recruit 1,000 volunteers who have binge eating disorders. The primary data is a log of thoughts and feelings collected through an app called Recovery Record. But researchers believe that heart-rate data may also prove valuable.
According to CNBC, “It’s likely that a binging and purging episode would cause some biological change that would show up in the Apple Watch data.” Participants will also be asked to sign up to an app called Recovery Record, which lets them log their emotional responses during the course of the project.
“We’re interested to find out what happens in the time period leading up to the binge and the purge,” said Jenna Tregarthen, CEO of Recovery Record. “And we hope we can anticipate and ultimately change the course of that episode.” she added.
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