With thousands of apps and seemingly limitless possibilities, smart phones have become the handheld information superhighway. And while there have been countless apps designed to help consumers make smart decisions about nutrition and exercise, there has yet to be one definitive app to inform and enlighten consumers about dietary supplements—that is, until now. The Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) has developed and launched a free consumer mobile app called My Dietary Supplements (MyDS).
 
“Knowing that consumers frequently use mobile devices to access and collect health information, the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health developed this free mobile application to seek to bridge this knowledge gap,” commented Deborah Langer, MPH, of the NIH’s Office of Disease Prevention. “MyDS is a resource and tool to help both the consumer and the healthcare provider be more informed and to help to reduce the risk for interactions between dietary supplements and other products.”
 
In addition to providing access to accurate and up-to-date consumer-focused fact sheets about dietary supplements, developed by ODS, and giving consumers general information about who ODS is and what it does, the app was designed to serve as a reliable way for consumers to keep track of the vitamins, minerals, herbs and other supplements they take.
 
The names and amounts of one’s dietary supplements are entered into the app and are stored for use anytime, anywhere—a handy resource when visiting the doctor or while shopping. MyDS also enables consumers to email their personal list of dietary supplements to themselves or to their healthcare providers, or to print it out for reference.
 
“More than half of U.S. adults take dietary supplements—including vitamins, minerals and herbs,” said Ms. Langer. “Healthcare providers often ask their patients for a list of all of the products that they take, but it’s difficult to remember complete information such as the product name, the full list of ingredients, and dosage details, especially for dietary supplements. Yet, dietary supplements can sometimes interact with medications in potentially very dangerous ways, so it is extremely important that healthcare providers know accurate information about what dietary supplements, over-the-counter products, and prescription medications their patients are taking.”
 
Ms. Langer explained MyDS also allows the user to create multiple profiles so they can keep track of the products they take, as well as a list of any products that family members may take. “This feature is especially helpful for caregivers of the elderly, who also happen to be the greatest users of dietary supplements,” she said.
 
MyDS version 2.0 works on the Apple iPhone, iPad, and iTouch devices, Android phones and devices, Kindle Fire, and BlackBerry Touch devices running OS6 and above. MyDS will also work on your desktop/laptop with the Chrome and Safari browsers. It is designed to work the same across all platforms and is particularly suited for touchscreen devices. When the app is accessed from a non-touchscreen device, like a desktop or laptop computer using Chrome or Safari, a standard mouse can be used for scrolling through pages.

ODS made it clear that any personal information consumers enter in the app is to provide you with the ability to maintain a mobile list of the products you take. Submission of personal email addresses and passwords is voluntary and encrypted within the ODS database; however, in order for data to be stored remotely for easy MyDS data syncing between devices, users will need to complete both fields. The notes field in the application is voluntary and users can choose how much detail to include. ODS collects no personal information about consumers, only general information automatically generated by their devices for analyses that will be used to improve the app’s services. ODS said it strictly uses that information for statistical analyses only.

MyDS is not a native app and is therefore not accessed via the iTunes or Android app stores. It can be downloaded by following this link. A Spanish version of MyDS is scheduled for release in this spring.