Connected Health: This week in health and fitness tech

The health and fitness tech market is growing rapidly, from wearable tracking devices like the Fitbit to more obscure medical gadgets that could have a big impact on those living with disabilities.

Each week we’ll be bringing you a round-up of the best from Connected Health, our sister site that’s dedicated to the world of health tech, fitness gadgets and awesome apps:

MappyHealth analyses Twitter data for health trends

Admittedly we spend far too much time tweeting about absolute rubbish on Twitter, but data mining company MappyHealth hopes to weed through the useless stuff and find out important information about health trends across the globe.

Nike+ Accelerator launches to drive digital fitness innovations

Nike is taking its commitment to digital health and fitness tracking a step further by launching an accelerator programme to encourage developers and fledgling companies to make awesome products and services using the Nike+ platform.

Google Now app gets a pedometer: The first step in Google’s fitness tracking mission?

The Google Now application now has a way of tracking miles that have been walked and cycled, which may seem a bit “so what” to those without an Android phone, but could well be Google’s first step into the world of mobile health and fitness tracking.

Tinke: The next must-have gadget in health and wellness tracking?

So we’ve seen a range of health and fitness tracking gadgets launch this year, but Tinke is set to become big in 2013 because it’s not bothered about the steps you’ve taken or other trivial data like that, it wants to know your heart is performing well and it wants to allow you to find out in the simplest of ways.

Tactio’s apps help teens lose weight and get fit

Health app company Tactio are producing a lot of products to track weight, BMI and other health metrics, but we’re particularly interested in its niche products aimed at teens.