Statistically, most of us have fallen of the New Year’s healthy resolution bandwagon by now.

At delicious. HQ, a steady stream of amazing cakes and treats work their way from the test kitchen to our desks on a daily basis. Yesterday? Sticky cinnamon buns, still-warm chocolate bread and a secret sweet loaf connection destined for a future edition of the magazine. Amazing, yes, but it’s a double edged sword.

We’re looking for a little help in the health department; every second celebrity (or reality show contestant, for that matter) seems to have a health or diet plan, with an app to boot. It’s more than confusing – it’s a jungle out there.

Noting a spike in the popularity of food tracking apps, researchers from the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins centre compared 800 different apps to “test the quality and evidence base of dietary weight loss apps” and check the accuracy of their kilojoule measures against Australian standards.

One of the worst, they found, overestimated a user’s daily intake by 299 kilojoules, but most differed by an average of 127 kilojoules.

PhD candidate and dietician Juliana Chen led the study, and offered a few tips for using a food tracking app.

Check the food app source

“Make sure the app comes from a credible source, and that health professionals have been involved in developing it. We found that a large number of weight loss apps are developed by people with little scientific understanding of what would support weight loss,” she said.

Does the app actually help?

“Choose an app that includes techniques for changing behaviour – these were generally the apps which rated the best in our evaluation. Apps that include more motivational components, such as points, levels, feedback, rewards and challenges, are more likely to lead to changes in behaviour. Check to see if the information provided in the app matches up with reliable sources on healthy eating, such as the Australian Dietary Guidelines.”

Buy Australian made

Finally, she suggests to look for an app with an Australian – rather than American – modeling base.

“Choose an app that’s easy to use and easy to log your food. This includes using an app with an Australian database of foods.”

The top apps as rated in the study: