045 – Fitness Trackers and Baby Powder

The Body of Evidence

 
Don’t mind Chris’ newfound psychic powers; do fitness trackers like Fitbits actually work? They monitor our heart beats, they count our steps and calories burnt, but do they do it accurately? And can they help us lose weight? Also: you’ll never believe what actually motivates people to exercise; early detection is not as easy as it sounds; does Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder cause cancer and should you even use baby powder in the first place; and how to judge the merits of a scientific paper when you’re not a scientist.
 
Vox pop by Ada McVean of the McGill Office for Science and Society.
 
Jingle by Jillian Kate.
 
Additional music by Seth Donnelly and Kevin MacLeod.
 
Theme music: “Troll of the Mountain Swing” by the Underscore Orkestra.
 
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REFERENCES
 
Sales of fitness trackers:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paullamkin/2018/02/22/smartwatch-popularity-booms-with-fitness-trackers-on-the-slide/#68e947c87d96
 
HR accuracy of fitness trackers:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2566167
 
Energy expenditure accuracy of fitness trackers:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28538708
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26684758
 
Fitness trackers for weight loss (The IDEA trial):
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2553448
 
Fitness trackers and lack of motivation
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2089651?redirect=true
 
Fitness trackers and cash incentives:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(16)30284-4/fulltext
 
Fitness trackers and hard outcomes:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2679277?widget=personalizedcontent&previousarticle=2089651
 
Apple Watch accuracy:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/article-abstract/2675364
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