Health App launches pilot program in BR - WAFB 9 News Baton Rouge, Louisiana News, Weather, Sports

Health App launches pilot program in BR

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If there's one thing we love to do in the capital city, it's eat.  But, what exactly is in that food you're putting in your body?

"One of the problems we run into in Louisiana is we love our food," said Emilie Smart of the East Baton Rouge Parish Library System. "So, many people in the state and in Baton Rouge don't want to think about that because then they can't enjoy their food."

The latest place to find out what you're eating isn't through a nutritionist, but at your local library with the help of a new app called Bon-App.

"It's information and we are about information and providing information and assistance to people," said Emilie.

Of course, there are a lot of healthy apps out there, but the creators of Bon-App say their app is different in three key ways.

First, it's visually attractive, using battery graphics that show you how much you've eaten and how much you have left by turning green, yellow, red or black.

Second, it's easy to understand. 

"Consumers get lost, what's good fat and bad fat?" said founder of the app Laurent Adamowicz.  

Adamowicz developed the app after a fellowship at Harvard.  He describes himself as a born foodie, and wanted to help people better understand what's in their food and how that affects them.  So the app was designed to be as simple to understand as possible.

It doesn't show complicated nutrition labels and instead, breaks down the food into bad fats, sugars, salt and calories. You can also personalize what you want to limit, i.e. calories or salt.

Third, the app has a voice activation feature. 

"It's a simple nutrition guidance platform. We're helping them understand what's in their food so we can hopefully allow them to make more informed, better food choices," explained the company's Director of Research & Data Analytics Dr. Taylor Salinardi.

EBRPLS decided to partner with Bon-App to provide another healthy resource for residents.  However, the library isn't Bon-App's only partner.  

Pennington Biomedical Research Center has taken it to two middle schools for a clinical study with kids.

"You have to start very early," said Adamowicz.  "You can get the children to understand what's bad fat, what's sugar and what's salt and how much there is in my food and if it's bad for me or how should I look at this."

Best of all, the app, the information and the health benefits are all free and available for IPhone, IPad, Android and your computer. 

For more information on the app and its pilot program here in Baton Rouge, click here.

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