The findings revealed that the participants of the experimental group, who followed postings of healthy eating on social media, added 1.4 servings of fruits and vegetables per day to their daily menu, and in contrast consumed 0.8 less foods with no nutritional value, such as high-calorie snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages.
The researchers’ conclusion was that there is a relationship between viewing social media accounts, which focused on healthy eating, and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption and less junk food consumption.
This study joins previous studies, which showed that positive social norms regarding the consumption of fruits and vegetables and other foods that are considered healthy, increases their consumption. According to the authors of the study, the goal now is to check if the nutritional change made by everyone who switched to a healthy diet following viewing of dedicated posts on social networks, is a long-term change and if it is indeed possible to use social media for the purpose of instilling the values of balanced and healthy eating.
The use of social media with the aim of improving dietary habits and causing an increase in the consumption of fruits and vegetables and reducing empty foods is, apparently, effective. However, it is important to remember that unbalanced viewing of various posts on social networks may encourage excessive consumption of one food, vitamin or mineral at the expense of another. This may create a nutritional excess or deficiency, which may harm growth and development especially at young ages. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the diet contains all the main nutrients and that it combines at the same time a healthy lifestyle that includes: strict physical activity, sufficient hours of sleep, drinking water and more. It is also important to remember that social media is not a substitute for personal nutritional advice from a clinical dietitian.
The author is Inbal Katz Friedlander, director of the general nutrition and diet unit in the central district