Apple is doing its part to help research into binge eating and eating disorders.
The company will donate 1,000 Apple Watch units to researchers at the University of North Carolina to study binge eating, CNBC is reporting. The study will be known as Binge Eating Genetics Initiative (BEGIN) and will aim at trying to understand the factors that contribute to overeating. It will include 1,000 participants who are 18 or older and have either binge eating disorder or bulimia nervosa, according to the report.
When the participants wear the Apple Watch, researchers will monitor their heart rates and see whether there’s any change in their heart rates before they begin to overeat. The researchers ultimately hope to determine whether binge eating is triggered by a physical or behavioral action and what happens to the body before and after people begin to overeat.
The study could ultimately provide important insight into what causes people to binge-eat. And with an estimated 30 million people in the U.S. alone that suffer from eating disorders, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, the findings could ultimately have an impact on the health of many people.
The researchers are signing up participants for the study now, according to the report.