ArticleHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland)2022
Can Social Media Profiles Be a Reliable Source of Information on Nutrition and Dietetics?
Article in Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Association between sources of nutrition information and self-perceived nutrition competence of healthcare professionals: a cross-sectional study.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- A social cognitive theory and theory of planned behavior-based serial multiple mediation model of social media-related factors and eating behaviors among sports science students.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Content quality versus sharing practices on social media: a cross-sectional analysis of nutrition information on Twitter.Public health nutrition · 2025Article
- Diet and Psoriasis-Related Information on Instagram: A Quality and Content Analysis of Posts Under Popular Psoriasis Hashtags.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2025Article
- Article
- #Fail: the quality and accuracy of nutrition-related information by influential Australian Instagram accounts.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2024Article
- Nutrition knowledge and health vulnerability of mothers of pre-school children in north-central, Nigeria.PloS one · 2024Article
- Susceptibility to COVID-19 Nutrition Misinformation and Eating Behavior Change during Lockdowns: An International Web-Based Survey.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Use of #NutritionFacts to promote evidence-based nutrition information: X (formerly Twitter) hashtag analysis study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- The COVID-19 related stress and social network addiction among Chinese college students: A moderated mediation model.PloS one · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSocial media are growing worldwide platforms for unlimited exchange of various content. Owing to their accessibility and short form, they can be utilized as usable, wide-range communication and information tools for companies, scientific communities, patient advocacy organizations, and special interest groups. This study aimed to investigate whether Instagram MATERIALS AND
methodsRandom identification of nutrition-related posts was performed using a built-in website search engine. Posts were searched by five popular hashtags: #nutrition, #nutritionist, #instadiet, #diet, and #dietitian, 250 newest posts of each. Advertisement posts were discarded. Each eligible post was then categorized (dietetics, fitness, motivation, other) and assessed with regard to the quality of nutrition information provided (five levels from none to good quality), popularity (number of followers, likes, and comments), and engagement measures (like, comment, and engagement ratio).
resultsA total of 1189 posts were reviewed. The overall quality of the content regarding nutritional knowledge was extremely low (93.9% of all posts), also when divided into categories. Among all posts, 63.8% were categorized as "nutrition and dietetics", while "fitness", "motivation", and "other" categories comprised 8.2%, 4.8%, and 23.2% of the posts, respectively. Posts recognized as dietetics were the most liked (mean
conclusionsRandom post search cannot provide viewers with valuable nutrition information. A dedicated search for high-quality professional profiles is preferred to obtain quality information.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.