We all know there’s an obesity epidemic in the United States. In 1962 about 13% of Americans were obese. In 2010 the rate had grown to 35.7%, including 17% of children. This is a real public health problem that has a hefty impact.

However, there are some encouraging trends. One came this spring in the form of CDC/JAMA data that demonstrated “a significant decline in obesity among children aged 2 to 5 years.”  Another is the increased use of personal fitness and health devices, including Fitbit, Nike’s Fuelband, and Jawbone’s Up. These devices and associated apps have helped thousands to meet their health and fitness goals. And the next generation of personal fitness tech will be in your smartphone. You won’t have to buy a clip-on or wrist band device to track your calories, steps and sleep. And the personal data will be much deeper and wider.

“Apple, Google, and Samsung — have all thrown their weight behind platform plays aiming to aggregate and simplify the universe of devices and apps available to consumers.”

“We could be at a real tipping point,” says Harry Wang, an analyst who leads health and mobile research for Park Associates. “Fitness devices and apps have been a fast-growing but still relatively niche market. These new ecosystems, if they gain traction, could finally push the industry into the mainstream.”

See the article in The Verge.

Thanks to Cecile Tamura at Techn-Optimism FB group for this article.