The features.

If you’re looking for a truly easy way to start eating healthier, look no further than Munch 5-a-Day. The interface is bright, the graphics are cute, and its functionality is very intuitive. Users can set personal daily “munch goals” which are automatically reset on a daily basis. Recording FV consumption is quick and easy. Simply tap the fruit and veggie icons on the homepage one time for each portion you eat. No scrolling around to find the exact food or measurement.

Tilting the phone gives users graphs of fruit and vegetables consumed over two time periods, weeks and months. Unlike most nutrition apps, the graphs are easy to read and interpret with red icons representing portions of fruit consumed and green representing vegetables.

Munch 5-a-Day also gives positive reinforcement with instant gratification through congratulatory messages and a slew of cute badges to earn. For those needing some social reinforcement, you can share your triumphs (and failures) with friends on Twitter and Facebook. The creators also see this app working well for parents that want to teach their children about plant-based diets in a fun, interactive way.

How to get it.

Munch 5-a-Day is available for iPhone and iPad in the App Store for only $0.99. I’ve downloaded the app on my iPhone, and I have to say, it’s very well done. Tracking fruit and vegetable consumption has never been so cute!

HealthGAMERS is pleased to introduce you to Greg Kendall, President and CEO of Kendall & Son Solutions LLC. Greg has begun a family game development business which has plunged straight into mobile gaming for health. His company’s first game is called Allergies Attack and it gives players a chance to get back at all of those allergies for just $0.99, available now in the iPhone Apps Store.

The interview.

HG: Describe the general gameplay of Allergies Attack. What is the win/lose proposition?

GK: Allergies Attack follows a little boy named Richard through his dream of getting back at his allergies.  The opening story shows Richard’s mother trying to explain why he can’t go on a field trip, and as Richard begins to fall asleep, he starts imagining what he might be missing.  The game play is arcade-like with Richard in an anti-histamine pill-shaped jet, shooting his allergies as they appear on the various scenes.  Eliminate the remaining enemies, and you move on to the next of six levels of play where your allergens can be fish, dairy, gluten or peanuts.

HG: I understand that your sister inspired the creation of this game. How was development guided by her personal health experiences?

GK: Both my father and I, as well as my other older sister Erica, are asthmatics.  It was ironic that as a small child, Jessica showed no signs of asthma or any other allergies.  However, in college, we watched my sister develop severe adult-onset food allergies, most notably an allergy to soy.  We quickly learned that soy is virtually in every type of prepared food product on the grocery shelf.  We watched her frustrations grow, as we all discovered just how widespread the use of soy is in the foods we eat everyday.  When we began planning our company and creating our mission statement, we quickly decided to begin by developing a fun and entertaining game for the tens of millions of people around the world to attack back at their allergies.

HG: Where can our readers obtain the app and how much does it cost?

GK: Allergies Attack is available on Apple’s App Store, and additional information on the game can be found on our website.

On his health game mission.

HG: We have seen the concept of “fighting back” in other popular health games like HopeLab’s Re-Mission for young cancer patients undergoing treatment.  Do you feel you’re taking a similar approach–empowering the player?

GK: I would say that we are taking a similar approach as Re-mission by empowering the player to attack back.  Often the afflicted feel hopeless and not in control, but with these games they are given a fun way to deal with their issue even if just for a short time.

HG: What do you hope to accomplish by releasing the game to the public?

GK: We hope that Allergies Attack will increase awareness of food allergies, that it is a serious issue that millions of people have to be conscience of everyday.  Without generating downloads the game will not promote awareness, so they are dependent on each other; synergy. Additionally, promoting awareness creates a drive for research to ultimately find a cure.  We therefore will be making a donation towards allergy research, education, and advocacy.

HG: You said that you specifically hope your game will increase awareness about food allergies, yet the character Richard is combatting his peanut allergies by shooting antihistamines.  Most know that avoiding peanut consumption is the safest way to avoid horrible food allergy reactions like anaphylaxis. Does this mean your health game is purely for fun and not about sending specific allergy-related messaging or pharma-focused messaging?

GK: If a person has severe allergies, anaphylaxis can be induced by any of the foods depicted in Allergies Attack.  We are not trying to convey a pharma-focused or accurate treatment plan through our game play.  If we can provide a fun outlet for allergy sufferers and get one person who is not afflicted by allergies to Google “how many people suffer from food allergies” then we are successful.

On business and development.

HG: Who did the programming and design of Allergies Attack?

GK: Allergies Attack was designed and produced by Kendall & Son Solutions LLC.

HG: Is this Kendall & Son Solutions’ first game? How did you get into this business?

GK: This is Kendall & Son Solutions’ first game.  It all started with a discussion we had during Thanksgiving about allergies and technology. It all did not come to fruition until a couple of months later when my sister with food allergies became pregnant.  During her last trimester, she was put on bed rest and needed assistance getting groceries, cooking etc. Being allergic to many foods, we needed to be careful of what we bought and cooked for her.  My father and I then developed our first basic application Am I Allergic, which is an allergen thesaurus.   For example, if a person is allergic to egg they most likely would be allergic to livetin, an egg protein.  Am I Allergic was originally intended for our family’s personal use, but then we decided that we wanted to publish it in the App Store in the hope that it could be helpful as it was to us.  After that, Kendall & Son Solutions was born.

HG: How long did it take to develop Allergies Attack?

GK: My father and I spent four months of nights and weekends designing and developing the game.

HG: Why did you choose the iPhone platform?  Were there any challenges associated with using the iPhone?

GK: We felt the iPhone platform had the most mature development environment as well as a very sizable market for distribution of our games and applications.

HG: How long has the game been live?  Has it been doing well in the App Store?

GK: The game has only been live in the App Store for a couple days and we will still be working hard to promote the game and having the rest of the world. Join us in attacking back!

HG: What can we expect from Kendall & Son Solutions down the road?

GK: The future looks bright for Kendall & Son Solutions.  We currently are in development and pre-development of a number of games that above all are fun and exciting to play but also champion an issue.  These issues will include health, social and environmental issues that the world is facing today.

Other allergy and flu health games on healthGAMERS.

• Interview: Nasonex’s “Don’t Blow It” Allergy Game
• The Great Flu: Global Pandemic
• Gaming the Flu: Having fun with H1N1

For a long time I’ve wanted to do a post all about mobile phone-based health games.  After all, visit the iPhone App store and you’re bombarded with thousands of choices.  From the complete works of Plato to real estate prices, there’s a little (or a lot) for everyone.  In the healthcare & fitness and medical sections alone, users have 2140+ apps to choose from.  But are there any health games in the app store yet?  Not really.  These are as close to health games as I could find:

• Nike Training Club – Create an avatar, customize your workout, learn new drills, compete with friends.
• Are You Smarter than Your Doctor? – Quiz game that allows you to compete with friends or one-on-one with your doc to show him/her that you know much more than they do.  A fun way to educate patients with questions based on questions posed by real licensed doctors.

But are these the only health game apps?

I decided to take my question to a higher authority–Google.  The result?  Mindless Eating Challenge from the folks at Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab.  Based on the book by Dr. Brian Wansink of the same name, Mindless Eating Challenge is a mobile phone-based health game in which players are tasked with caring for a virtual pet, similar to a Tamgotchi.  The player must follow a variety of health and eating recommendations and verify their actions with photos taken from their phone’s camera.  Here is a example of what to expect from gameplay:

For example, the recommendation “Eat a hot breakfast” would require the player to submit a photo of him/ herself eating a bowl of oatmeal.  Photos and compliance are then judged either by judges or peers.  Based on compliance to these recommendations, the pet or plant changes its appearance and gains features or accessories–a tree might grow taller or grow more leaves or fruit in response.  Alternatively, leaves might fall off if the players performance is poor.  A social portion of the game allows the user to see various depictions of their performance in comparison to the performance of others in their group, as well as of their group in comparison to other groups.  The game is designed so that various features can be easily enabled and disabled so it can be used as a platform from which to conduct research into the mechanisms of mobile persuasion in the context of improving health and well-being.

I spoke briefly with JP Pollak, PhD candidate and participant on the project. He and his team are in the process of submitting findings for publication on their first full study using 70 middle schoolers.  Hopefully we’ll get more details on that soon.