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Fitbit trackers ‘tell users they’re burning more calories than they actually are’
Some of the most popular fitness trackers on the market can overestimate the number of calories burned by their users, a study has claimed.
Researchers at Aberystwyth University in Wales said trackers, such as those produced by Fitbit, can overstate a person’s exercise by more than 50%.
They found that all products tested, varying from £20 to £80 in price, were not accurate during running and walking tests.
The study was carried out for the BBC X-Ray programme, which will be broadcast on BBC One Wales at 7.30pm on Monday.
The university’s Dr Rhys Thatcher told the BBC that fitness trackers had an “inherent tendency” to over-measure.
The tests measured the amount of oxygen a volunteer used during walking and running sessions on a treadmill, each lasting ten minutes, before comparing it with the readouts given by fitness trackers.
The Fitbit Charge 2, the best-selling fitness tracker on the market, was very accurate in testing calories burned while running, the study found, only underestimating by 4%.
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But when it came to measuring walking, the Fitbit device overestimated by more than 50%.
The study found that cheaper devices – the Letscom HR and the Letsfit – underestimated the number of calories burned while running by 33% and 40% respectively.
Dr Thatcher said: “If you want to know the exact number of calories that you are burning during an exercise session then it doesn’t matter which device you use, you have to interpret the data with some caution.”
However, Fitbit said it was confident in its product’s performance, saying it was based on “extensive research”.
Letscom and Letsfit said their devices depend on data such as height and stride for accuracy to give only estimations and are not “medical devices”.
Meanwhile, Fitbit devices are being blamed for a surge in patients reporting to their doctors because the devices are reportedly telling them they are ill when they are perfectly fine.
A report by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges warned of a “dystopian” scenario in which the NHS would struggle to cope with large numbers of patients seeking treatment “because they have erroneously been told to attend by their AI-enabled Fitbit or smartphone”, The Times reported.
One of the report’s authors, Jack Ross, said patients with Fitbits and Apple Watches attended his clinic “thinking they have a fast heart rate or low heart rate when it has been normal”.
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