A new game that trains the brain to eat less junk food

Scientists have developed a fast-food game within a brain training application that can help you eat less and lose weight. The application, called The Food Trainer (FoodT App), trains you to click on pictures of healthy foods, but stop clicking when you see meals Unhealthy light on the screen.

This creates an association between fast foods and a weaker response to them, which helps to avoid unhealthy choices in real-world scenarios.

Dr. Matthias Olbach, from the University of Helsinki, said, for anyone with unhealthy eating habits, which may have developed during the lockdown, a diet may be beneficial.

Researchers from the Universities of Exeter and Helsinki evaluated the app's impact on 1,234 participants' fast food consumption and found that playing the game once a day for a month resulted in a one-point average drop in fast food consumption on an eight-point scale.

People who played the game more often also reported greater changes in their food intake, and overall there was an average weight loss of half a kilogram and a slight increase in healthy food intake.

Professor Natalia Lawrence, who led the study, said: 'For example, someone eating a fast-food two to four times a week reduced that to once a week after using the app regularly for a month. Overall, the results are really encouraging. The app is free and only takes about four minutes per day, so it's something people can realistically do - and our results suggest that it works.