Mobile Users Warned of Solely Relying on Health Apps

Doctors in India have warned mobile users to be cautious in their use of health applications. Specialists claimed that these iOS or Android applications do not really give definite results and could lead to faulty estimates.

Indian Express said there are instances when these mobile applications give wrong diet tips to the users since it does not consider other health factors. The doctors from India said that this could lead to serious health complications.

"A lot of applications are not to be relied upon and exist just to generate revenue in the market," said diabetologist Pradeep Gadge. "There are health applications which claim to measure blood pressure by simply keeping a thumb on the screen. Such techniques are misleading."

He added that measurements in these mobile applications fail to show reliable results since factors are very limited. "There are situations when health application users rely on it for the calories burn during the entire day along with several other things, without even realizing that such applications are pre-set and do not show the actual results," Gadge explained.

The Indian doctors noted that there are already 50,000 health applications in the market but this number is still expected to grow in the coming months. It was added that around 500 million individuals have downloaded medical apps in their mobile devices.

"People want instant results and further they follow their own methods to lose extra kilos through apps or some methods rather than going for the natural way or the way suggested by the doctors," diabetologist Sudhir Kumar said in the Indian Express report. However, he said that medical requirements for each individual vary so these apps are not reliable.

According to an earlier USA Today report, other dangers of these health applications include possible misdiagnosis, lack of scientific evidence and no doctor involvement. It also explained that the privacy of users could also be sacrificed since the information in these apps can be accessed by other people like advertisers.