Healthy eating app developed for indigenous Australians

Canberra, Nov 3: A smartphone app aimed at helping improve the eating habits of indigenous Australians has been launched.

The Good Tucker app, launched in Darwin on Thursday night, gives users instant diet advice, marking a move away from traditional healthy food campaigning, reports Xinhua news agency.

Users of the app utilise the camera on their smartphone to scan the barcode of a food product or photograph, for example, a piece of fruit.

The app then uses information from a five-star rating system to tell the user whether a food is good, bad, or fine in moderation.

Graham Bidstrup, creator of the app, on Friday said that although the app was designed for all ages, it was being marketed to children so they can develop healthy eating habits early in life.

"It was set up for kids in remote communities, that's what we first thought this app would be for, but it's actually gone much wider, it's something everyone can use.

"Our mantra is 'good tucker, long life', so I'm hoping people start adopting healthy eating practices and particularly the sugar drinks," Bidstrup added.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)' 2012-13 Health Survey found that 66 per cent of indigenous Australians aged 15 years and over were either overweight (29 per cent) or obese (37 per cent).

Indigenous Australians were 1.6 times more likely to be obese as non-indigenous Australians, the ABS found.