During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, people were desperate for information on how to protect themselves against the rapidly spreading virus. Many sought advice on social media, where opinions about preventing infection or minimizing its risks quickly proliferated.
A new study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research authors from UIC and the Texas Woman’s University Institute for Health Sciences used Twitter data to assess how non-expert users discussed an area of great interest during COVID-19: nutrition. By analyzing more than 70,000 tweets posted between January and September 2020, the authors characterized the most common topics of conversation, identifying supplements, liquids and fruits as particularly important.
The study was led by Kavitha Shankar, a UIC alumna who is currently pursuing a doctorate in nutrition at Texas Woman’s University, and Ranganathan Chandrasekaran, professor of information and decision sciences at UIC Business. In a previous studyChandrasekaran used Twitter data to study public perceptions of vaccination during the pandemic, but this project focused exclusively on conversations before the vaccine was available.
“Social media has become a very fertile medium for information exchange and interaction,” Chandrasekaran said. “Many people have started paying more attention to their fitness and strengthening their immunity so that they can fight the virus. We wanted to understand what the public was saying about this and how everyone was coping with this new pandemic.
To focus on public opinion, the team filtered tweets from official agencies, health and science professionals, and medical organizations such as hospitals. They also removed advertising messages and tweets that appeared to come from bots or automated systems. Then, they used text mining approaches to sort the remaining tweets into categories by topic and sentiment.
Many of the top categories reflected a focus on fresh and organic foods, such as fruits, vegetables, spices and herbs. Negative feelings were strongest around what the authors called “foods to avoid” – unhealthy options such as alcohol, fast food and soda. But the most popular category, accounting for more than a third of the tweets analyzed, was supplements: vitamins, antioxidants and other synthetic products.
“I think people were looking for a quick solution to boost immunity,” Chandrasekaran said.
For the analysis, the authors did not judge whether the nutritional claims in the tweets were supported by scientific evidence. But Shankar said some observations, such as the importance of discussions around fluid intake, were consistent with medical recommendations.
“From my observation, people pay very little attention to the amount of fluids, especially water, they drink in a normal day,” Shankar said. “From this study, it was very refreshing to know that at least 25% of the population understood the importance of hydration. I didn’t expect to see this in our results.
The study results can be used by health professionals to better understand public opinion on the role of nutrition in preventing infectious diseases, Shankar said. This could help inform clinical discussions and direct people to science-backed dietary advice.
Other co-authors included Pruthvinath Jeripity Venkata of UIC and Derek Miketinas of Texas Woman’s University Institute for Health Sciences.
