Effect of nutrition counseling and self-monitoring mobile application (MyFitnessPal) on iron and calcium intake among overweight and obese college students

ABSTRAK Latar Belakang: Prevalensi obesitas terus mengalami peningkatan hingga saat ini. Penelitian terkini memperlihatkan bahwa orang dengan status gizi obesitas cenderung memiliki asupan kalsium dan kadar serum besi lebih rendah dibandingkan dengan orang yang memiliki status gizi normal. Pengaturan pola makan yang kurang tepat menjadi salah satu penyebab tingginya prevalensi obesitas. Oleh karena itu, perlu adanya pengendalian asupan makan pada individu obesitas dengan memanfaatkan kombinasi konseling gizi dan pengendalian asupan makanan harian dengan bantuan aplikasi self-monitoring (MyFitnessPal).Tujuan: Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui asupan zat besi dan kalsium pada subyek overweight dan obesitas dan pengaruh penggunaan konseling gizi dan aplikasi self-monitoring asupan (MyFitnessPal).Metode: Rancangan penelitian experimental dibuat dengan pretest-posttest with control group design pada 68 mahasiswa (32 mahasiswa setiap kelompok) di Universitas Alma Ata Yogyakarta. Analisis statistik yang digunakan adalah uji Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test dan Mann Whitney.Hasil: Hasil penelitian ini ditemukan bahwa ada perbedaan yang signifikan antara asupan zat besi sebelum dan sesudah intervensi pada kelompok eksperimen (p=0,001) sedangkan pada kelompok kontrol tidak terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan (p=0,417). Ada perbedaan yang signifikan antara asupan kalsium sebelum dan sesudah intervensi pada kelompok eksperimen (p=0,002) sedangkan pada kelompok kontrol tidak terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan (p=0,126). Terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan pada asupan zat besi (p=0,005) dan kalsium (p=0,001) antara kelompok eksperimen dan kontrol.Kesimpulan: Ada pengaruh konseling gizi dan self-monitoring asupan (MyFitnessPal) memengaruhi asupan zat besi dan kalsium pada mahasiswa overweight dan obesitas.KATA KUNCI: asupan kalsium; asupan zat besi; konseling gizi; MyFitnessPal; self-monitoring  ABSTRACT Background: Prevalence of obesity gradually increasing in the worldwide. People who had obesity status tend to have lower calcium and iron intake levels compared to non-obese people. Unhealthy diet practice is one of the causes of high prevalence of obesity. Therefore, it is necessary to control food intake of obese individuals by utilizing a combination of nutritional counseling and monitoring food intake using mobile apps MyFitnessPal.Objectives: This study aimed to determine intake of iron and calcium among overweight and obese student and whether effect of nutritional counseling and self-monitoring mobile application (MyFitnessPal) associated with their food intake.Methods: This experimental study was made by pretest-posttest with control group design. Of 68 students (34 subjects in each groups) at Alma Ata University Yogyakarta were recruited. Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and the Mann Whitney test created to assess the statistical analysis.Results: The results of this study found that there was a significant difference between iron intake before and after the intervention in the experimental group (p = 0.001), however, there was not significant difference in the control group (p = 0.417). There was a significant difference between calcium intake before and after intervention in the experimental group (p = 0.002), but not in the control group (p = 0.126). This study found a significant difference between intake of iron (p = 0.005) and calcium (p = 0.001) in each group.Conclusions: Using mobile apps for self-monitoring intake in combination with nutritional counseling could be considered as it was proven to be associated with iron and calcium intake among overweight and obese students in this study. Further studies are required to confirm our findings.KEYWORDS: calcium intake; iron intake; MyFitnessPal; nutrition counselling; self-monitoring