While consumers have tens of thousands of health and fitness apps to choose from, only very few actually gain any real traction, according to new research.

IMS Health reports that in the U.S. Google Play Store, 50 percent of health apps are downloaded fewer than 500 times, and just five apps account for 15 per cent of all health app downloads, tech blog Mobihealthnews writes.

When breaking down the 43,000 health and fitness apps in the U.S. Apple Store, IMS Health said that only 16,275 offer "genuine" health content. Plus some 20,000 were miscategorized or "only loosely healthcare related."

Last year, MobihealthNews released their own analysis of consumer health apps, finding that there were 13,600 health apps in the US App Store.

Cardio fitness and diet apps take the largest piece of that pie -- 16.2 percent are cardio fitness apps, while 14.1 percent account for diet apps.

If you're trying to find a specific app for a medical or health condition, HealthTap's new app claims to separate the wheat from the chaff by offering physicians' reviews. The app directory features doctor recommendations and written reviews of apps in both the iOS and Google Play stores, which could be a notch above typical user reviews.

For example, there are more than 600 diabetes apps and more than 200 children's health apps, so having a doctor tell you which ones are best could prove beneficial.