Anthem Blue Cross Announces New iPhone App: The Grocery Guide for Better Health

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Anthem Blue Cross has announced the launch of the Anthem Blue Cross Grocery Guide for Better Health, a free application for the iPhone designed to help Anthem members make healthy choices as they grocery shop or prepare their weekly grocery store list before leaving home.

The Anthem Blue Cross Grocery Guide contains information on more than 100,000 unique, branded food and beverage products including key nutritional facts and how that product compares nutritionally with other products within the same category.  

"Today people are busier than ever before and the trip to the grocery store can feel like just one more chore to race through and check off your list, but the choices you make can impact the health of your family for the entire week," said Pam Kehaly, president of Anthem Blue Cross. "Our hope is that this tool will make choosing the healthiest foods for your family a little easier."

Designed to simulate grocery store aisles, the Anthem Grocery Guide lets users browse the virtual aisles of their iPhone for the most nutritional food choices. Searching for the best yogurt? You just need to look in the on line dairy aisle and click on the yogurt icon.  

You can also search by a specific brand using the search feature.  You can then build a healthy grocery list by saving products to your favorites and then emailing the list to yourself. You can also share your list with your friends to help them make healthy choices.

The Anthem Blue Cross team worked with SmartNow's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Melina Jampolis and a team of top dietitians who nutritionally ranked grocery store products and used specific criteria  for determining the  healthier choices

The Anthem Blue Cross Grocery Guide also includes tips on how to select and store specific fruits and vegetables.  This information along with fun facts about each fruit and vegetable is provided by Produce for Better Health Foundation,  a non-profit organization with the mission of motivating people to eat more fruits and vegetables through their Fruits & Veggies -- More Matters® national health initiative.

The application can be downloaded here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/anthem-grocery-guide/id394510595?mt=8

About Anthem Blue Cross

Anthem Blue Cross is the trade name of Blue Cross of California.  Anthem Blue Cross and Anthem Blue Cross Life and Health Insurance Company are independent licensees of the Blue Cross Association. ® ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc.  The Blue Cross names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross Association.

About SmartNow.com

SmartNow.com helps corporations reduce health care costs through interactive, personalized diet, exercise and stress reduction programs for employees.  The company works with top medical, fitness and wellness experts to develop programs for optimal employee health. To learn more about SmartNow, visit www.SmartNow.com.

About Dr. Melina Jampolis

SmartNow's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Melina Jampolis graduated from Tufts Medical School in internal medicine and she is board certified in nutrition.  In 2005, Dr. Melina hosted a program on the Discovery Network's FIT TV titled "Fit TV's Diet Doctor" and she currently also serves as the diet and fitness expert for CNNHealth.com. She maintains a private practice in San Francisco and Los Angeles. As a diet and nutrition doctor, her mission is to help people get healthy and as needed to lose weight by providing a scientifically based and practical approach to eating.

SOURCE Anthem Blue Cross